


Shrouded Light

by MintyExhale



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Other, Slow Burn, Symcio, Symmphony - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-25
Updated: 2017-01-21
Packaged: 2018-08-10 23:49:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 29,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7866235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MintyExhale/pseuds/MintyExhale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Satya Vaswani didn't question much when it came to the workings and logic that was Vishkar Corporation. On a fateful evening during an unofficial night watch, Satya discovers that Vishkar had hidden a prison ward within their main building in which she finds the leader of the freedom fighters, Lucio, held captive. On the spur of the moment, her instincts take control and she secures the rebel's escape. Everything tumbles messily into place afterwards.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Escape

Satya Vaswani had decided to do another nightly walk around the empty area of one of the many buildings within Vishkar Corporation. There was not a soul in sight, the only sounds heard was the whirring of faraway machines and the hollow clacking of her heels against pristinely made tiles. At first, Satya had only intentionally did this to make sure everything was working correctly even after everything had been shut down for the night. But as all her habits, it became as something of a regular ritual she couldn’t stop doing.

The only source of light was the full moon glowing high above in the open skylight at the center of the building. The whole room was washed in a dim ocean blue, making the architech feel instantly in a state of calm. Satya shook her head, smiling briefly, remembering how some of her coworkers would say a full moon like this would bring upon bad luck. Superstition was not something within her character and she’d scoff and say if something bad _did_ occur it was merely a coincidence of it happening on a full moon’s night.  
She strode off to the right corner of the room, realizing it was an area she’d never inspected before. To her surprise, she found several guards standing at a heavily code-locked door. Satya noticed them carrying hard light rifles within their arms and wearing body armor over their uniforms.

“Vaswani, what are you doing here?” one guard asked.

“I just was doing a nightly tour, making sure everything is working as it should,” Satya replied.

“You know, there are night guards that can do that,” one guard said jokingly.

“I know, but it’s just relaxing doing so, it doesn’t hurt to help,” Satya clipped briskly.

“It’s currently confidential at the moment, I think it’d be best if you headed back for your quarters for the night,” a second guard said, with a much gruffer tone.

“…Alright, as long as I can be in the know sometime I’ll take my leave,” Satya replied, refraining from raising a suspicious eyebrow.

“Good night, Vaswani,” the guards said.

“A good night to you all as well,” Satya replied and curtly left the small enclosed room.

While Satya would have normally headed back to her room with no questions, this circumstance was too fishy. She didn’t ask a lot of questions but she could see in the look in the men’s eyes that they were all ready to dodge her questions need be if she were to ask any. Their clothes and the _weapons_ held in their hands were off-putting as well. Satya remembered glancing and seeing a couple of the guards even having batons strapped to their belts, too. She went upstairs to a higher level room just above their post. It was a lounge overlooking most of the area of the work stations. It was enclosed in square-shaped room with wide windows to look out of. Warm, cream couches were placed in all corners of the small room with tables topped with vases of flowers, lamps, and other decorative ornaments. Magazines were placed haphazardly on the tables as well and were also stuffed in racks by the couches. Satya frowned and arranged the magazines in a more orderly fashion and fixed the mess on the tables. Feeling satisfied, she almost forgot why she was initially here.

Wary of night guards possibly coming, she crouched low to the ground, clicking a button on her headset to overhear the guards’ conversation from below.

“…We have to be more careful, who knows if she’ll get any ideas on what’s she seen.”

“Maybe be more conspicuous with the body armor, it looks like we’re going out to war.”

“Very funny, we can’t have more of the unknowing staff finding out what we’re doing, it’s supposed to be put low-key, this situation.”

“Can you believe we finally got that leader guy? Vishkar will be ecstatic once the premises all know! His interrogation…it will definitely be sweet.”

“Right, we can hold it off for tonight, it’s best to lay low for a few weeks before conducting the next interrogation,”

She heard all the men making an affirmative noise of agreement.

Satya heard the shuffling of heavy boots before they scattered out of the entrance. She pressed the button again and heard the varied steps of the guards walking outside. Her heartbeat quickened and she laid herself fully on the floor, trying not to think of the many germs present on the carpet and rugs.  
She enhanced the hearing in her visor and waited till all of them left the building. When she was sure the coast was clear, she finally got up, brushed her uniform of any dust and dirt, and left the lounge area.

She was now acutely aware of how loud her heels sounded against the floor and tried to make her steps softer, but that only made her go slower. She decided to risk it and ran towards the secluded room off to the right.

She now saw how basic the room was. The walls were not painted or decorated, just of naked steel. There was a control panel where you could input a passcode or scan your handprint. Four security cameras were stationed in every upper corner in the room, blinking their red eyes at Satya. Satya did not want to risk putting in a wrong passcode and erupting a loud security siren so she opted for the handprint scanner instead. To her surprise, the scanner accepted her handprint. What could be in this room that it had to be kept confidential to one of Vishkar’s greatest architechs Satya wondered?

The mechanical doors slid open with a _fsshh_ of air. The first thing Satya noticed was the smell. It was a stale, musty scent that permeated the entire room. It wasn’t anything like the smell of death, but something along the lines of dirty and unwashed laundry. She wanted to pinch her nose and leave but on this particular night, she let curiosity kill the cat in her favor. The room had lowered lighting, simple lamps hanging from the ceiling illuminating a path. The walls were painted a pale green, leaving the room in an almost eerie glow. It reminded Satya of the fantastical green goo often found in old-fashioned sci-fi movies. As she passed the entrance, she let out a harsh gasp. She now knew why the room was kept out of knowledge to her. It was a place to keep prisoners.

Left and right, cells lined up to the ends of the room. She saw shadows of people laying in their cots or on the floor. A part of her screamed, “ _You must leave! You weren’t meant to see this! Leave NOW!_ ” and another part of her instinctively drew her further into the prison against her own volition. She dizzily walked past countless amounts of cells, her mind blank but at the same time buzzing with a million questions.

“ _Who are these people? Why are they being kept here? Why did this have to be kept a secret? The guards…the interrogation involved torture, didn’t it? Who was the leader they were referring to? Why am I still here?_ ”

She finally gripped an ounce of courage and looked to the prison cell to her left. She was shocked to see who was in the cell. It was none other than Lúcio Correia dos Santos, leader of the freedom fighters within the favela Vishkar was currently located on.

                                                                                                                -  
" _What is he doing here? How did he get caught?!_ ”

A million thoughts crossed Satya’s mind. She walked slowly towards the cell, as if she were approaching a circus animal outside of its cage. She heard shuffling within the cell and stopped, breath in her throat and heartbeat throbbing against her ribcage like a speeding delivery truck. A pained, muffled groan was heard from the man, and Satya stepped closer to look at him.

He looked like he’d been in more than just a street scuffle of a fight. His left eye was bruised badly and several areas of his body were sporting heavy black and blue injuries. He was dearly clutching his chest, his body contorted in a tightened fetal position. His breathing was heavy and labored, Satya being able to hear it more clearly as she moved closer to the cell. His gear and weapon were removed, the only things upon his person were his full lower bodied-designed skates and the clothes he often wore when he went to protest upon Vishkar’s front doors from the few times Satya had witnessed his rallies.

“What are you doing here?” Satya whispered hoarsely against the bars.

“Who’s there?!” Lucio cried as he immediately got up into sitting position. He hissed, clamping a hand towards his side. His earthen eyes narrowed as he met Satya’s gold ones.

“Satya Vaswani, one of the most renowned architechs at Vishkar Corporation,” Lucio said, his words with an edge that could cut even diamonds.

“Lucio Correia dos Santos, leader of the freedom fighters trying to uproot Vishkar Corporation from Rio de Janeiro,” Satya replied in a brisk, cold tone.

“What have they done to you?” Satya asked.

Lucio spat a small pool of blood on the cement floor and laughed bitterly. “You don’t know?” he asked, his tone incredulous.

Satya glared at him, and shakes her head. “I do not, I was not in the know of these handlings.”

“I might as well tell you, not as if you’d believe me,” Lucio said. “We were conducting a night raid again. Things didn’t go as planned. In the end, most of my group had escaped but they somehow snagged me and before they plopped me in this dirty cell, they beat me to telling them where our hideout was, but I wouldn’t let up so this is what I got.” He pointed to his eye and shrugged tiredly. “What are you doing here? Don’t you have better things to do?”

Satya pursed her lips, holding back a prickled retort. “There were some guards that were hovering around the outside this room, I found it suspicious so I decided to wait until I could access this area. I don’t understand how we have captive prisoners here it doesn’t make sense!” She squeezed her hands into fists and pulled until the muscles began to ache.

“Did the thought of Vishkar being corrupt from the inside ever cross your mind?” Lucio suggested sarcastically. Given his situation, he even dared roll his eyes.  
“That cannot be true! Vishkar is true and just! I refuse to believe we are holding hostages and prisoners here, and interrogating them in such inhumane ways,” Satya fired back, jaw clenching tightly.

“Open your eyes, you might find out on more truths than you ever thought before,” Lucio said. “If you’re done with your spiel, I’d very much like to be left alone, the scenery isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.” He cast a glance to Satya before laying with his backside to her.

Satya stood, hands fisted and jaw clenched, as she tried to calm her anger. How dare he! Why couldn’t he see Vishkar was only trying to help and assist the people within Lucio’s favela? Why couldn’t he be grateful to what her company has done for them? This needless rebellion of his is pointless and incredibly illogical!

When she finally calmed, she debated on leaving the rebel leader alone again and going back to her room. But she remembered the words the guards had said outside the prison. She shuddered to think what sort of methods they would use to interrogate Lucio, since he was the leader of his cause. This brought on another gleaming question to Satya’s mind: Were there other rebels here, who were fighting for Lucio’s cause?  
Before Satya could think, her hand instinctively went for the scan pad near the barred entrance of Lucio’s cell. With a click, the bars slid up and Satya bent to grab the man by his arm.

“What are you doing?” he hissed, snatching his arm away.

“I don’t exactly know myself,” Satya said, her frown deepening as she finally retrieved Lucio’s arm from his weak slapping attempts.

“What are we to do with these security cameras?” Satya asked, making a sweep of the cameras lined up on every corner of the room.

“If you tell me where my gear is, I can fix that problem,” Lucio said, glancing around the prison warily.

Satya remembered passing two large utility closets before she ended at Lucio’s cell. “I think I may know where they are.

Satya walked forward and Lucio hobbled behind her. She put her hand on the scan pad and it opened immediately. Lucio stepped in the large walk-in closet and retrieved his gear. He put everything on quickly, and looked at Satya with a look of mixed anger and confusion. After pulling on his gloves he took out the gun he’d re-fashioned into his own from Vishkar’s tech. Satya glanced with distaste at the revision it had become. Instead of the pristine white and black chrome gun it was originally supposed to be, it had become a strange amalgam of blue, green and black, with wires lined up to connect towards his one glove and the barrel became a strange projection that looked like a circular music speaker. Hideous and crude, Satya thought to herself.

Lucio pulled his gun up and directed his sound blasts toward the cameras. The sound of glass shattering made Satya tense and she clenched her fists to calm herself down. Immediately afterwards a siren began to sound.

Lucio cursed in Portuguese. " _Shit..._ ”

“We have to leave! They’ll be here any moment now!” Satya cried, trying her best to keep her voice leveled and calm.  
Without another thought, she grabbed Lucio by the hand and started hauling towards the exit by the end of the prison room. As they ran towards the door, Lucio sound blasted all the passing cameras, each camera bursting into a thousand pieces while the broken glass scattered across the floor. There was no time to mute the commotion happening behind them as Satya punched in the emergency code to exit. There were alarms blaring, the heavy steps of army boots thundering on tile in the distance, and the ambient beat of Lucio’s music playing distractedly by her ears.

Finally, the door panel’s screen lit up blue and the two of them pushed forward, a gust of cold air greeting them as they exited.  
Their positions were soon switched, with Lucio leading the charge as he guided her towards a dark alley. For the first time in months, Satya looked up to view the night sky. The night was lit up in a swath of navy blue and the silvery pinpoints of stars. Satya cast one last glance at the Vishkar Corporation building she was in. Instead of the usual luminescent glow of sea foam or sharp sapphire, the walls were tainted with a bright scarlet, alarms blaring throughout the building everywhere. The moon was the source of most of the light, its bright, bulbous form seeming to look down upon them as they made their escape.

Any other time Satya would scoff at the ridiculous timing of the events that had occurred on that particular night, but now she had no words in realizing how right her colleagues had been all along.


	2. Rest

The two of them walked in silence as they paced quickly in the darkness of the narrow alley they had turned towards. Local graffiti dotted the crumbling brick walls and trash was scattered across the sparse outcrops of grass on the cement path. The moon lit their path, carving a silvery glow to light their way once they left behind the narrow alley. The duo ducked into backyards, gardens, and countless more alleyways. At last, Lucio pressed both he and Satya’s backs towards a brick wall while he waited to hear if there were any sounds of footsteps from Vishkar guards. When the coast was clear, he took his arm away from Satya and exited to an empty street. The area was lined with local shops and homes, not a soul in sight. This was because of the community-wide curfew that had been issued since Vishkar took their place within the favela.

Lucio finally let go of Satya’s wrist, his grip neither tight nor loose when he had guided her through his neighborhood. Satya pulled away her hand, her fingers circling her wrist, holding it in disdain as if Lucio’s warmth were a vice. She hated the feeling of how safe it felt, even if he were an enemy of Vishkar. His warmth had the comforting embers of a well-lit fire, crackling in a secure hearth. It brought back vague memories of her childhood of when her mother had tended the fireplace to prepare dinner. She and her siblings would sit around to watch her in awe, the wood popping with heat and flames and the whole area glowing a warm, sumptuous orange. The air filled with the scent of ash and spices, and Satya remembered breathing it in heavily, her stomach growling as she waited in anticipation for the meal to be done.  
A cold breeze brought her out of her reverie and everything was again washed in the melancholy blue of the night. Lucio stood in front of her, giving her a perplexed look. Satya wordlessly shook her head, walking towards the man.

“Well, I know of a place nearby where we can stay, follow me,” Lucio said offhandedly. He gestured towards her to follow him and even though Satya wanted to protest but realized she had nowhere to go to and quickly ran after him once he had started in the direction of a small building in the distance.

The place he was taking her to was a small, local inn. The building was short with a wide open roof. Golden light poured from the open windows. A sign detailed the inn’s name, _The Little Parrot_. A bell rang as Lucio opened the door, the wide counter handled by one lone man. The man looked up from his reading and perched his glasses on his nose.

“How may I help you?” he asked, taking a pen and log book into his hands. He was a stout, short man with a thick mustache above his upper lip. He wore a tan checkered shirt and matching trousers. A gold watch was tied across his right wrist and he had a soft, gentle look in his chestnut eyes.

Lucio and the old man conversed in Portuguese as Satya stood awkwardly, taking in the interiors of the inn. The check-in area was decorated plainly, the walls painted white with gold outlining against the corners. Unsurprisingly, a parrot sat on an open perch, eyeing Satya curiously. It made the architech feel uncomfortable being under the gaze of a rather large yellow bird. Woven benches and couches were placed around the area and maroon rugs were rolled across the floor.

Lucio paid the man and the man in turn gave him a set of keys. As they were ready to leave, Satya saw in her peripheral a look in the man’s eyes that made her neck feel hot. It was the look people at hotels would give when they saw a young couple finish checking in, a look that breathed, “Ah, youth! How wonderful it must be to be spry and full of energy again!” Satya wanted to protest and tell the man they were not together, and certainly _not_ dating or even in a relationship. She couldn’t even look at him anymore and stiffly walked up the stairs her whole face now feeling as if it were set on fire.

“He set us up in room 304-hey you alright there?” Lucio cocked his head, concern weaving across his features.

“I am perfectly fine,” Satya replied weakly, trying not to make eye contact with Lucio.

The freedom fighter shrugged his shoulders and led the way towards their shared room.

They were given a room with two beds and a window view of the street below. There was a small bedside table between the two beds holding an old-fashioned lamp and an outdated model of an alarm clock next to it. There was one shared bathroom that had the inn’s renowned soap and the necessary toiletries the two of them would need. The floors were lined in pale woodwork and rolled with handmade rugs spanning in every color of the rainbow.

Only in the awkward quietness in the room did Satya realize how sweaty and sticky she felt. She thumbed the edge of her issued uniform, the fabric easing off with a moist swish. Satya frowned deeply, feeling disgusted with herself. She brushed her skirts and stood up announcing that she was going to take the shower first. Lucio had taken the bed near the window, with his back turned. Without looking back, he shrugged and continued to watch the view outside. He’d carefully hid his gear underneath the bed in neat rows. He’d stripped himself of nothing but his trademark tank top and skin-tight pants. Lucio had put his yellow visor across the side on the bedside table. Feeling an uncomfortable twinge within her chest, Satya gathered her things quickly to begin her nightly rituals.

The shower was easy enough to work with. Soon enough hot water streamed from the showerhead. Satya sighed in relief, letting out a breath she didn’t even realize she was holding. The water felt immensely wonderful and she looked down, satisfied in seeing the dirt and grime of their earlier escape washing away down the drain. She squeezed the body wash from one of the few bottles situated in a container filled with bath products. The shower was then filled with the scent of tropical fruit and sweet spices.  
She exited the bathroom with steam swirling around her. She’d have to find a way to get her uniform laundered so it wouldn’t stick uncomfortably on her person. In the closet outside the shower area, there were a few changes of nightwear available. Satya stepped out in a loose, yellow striped pair of pajamas, warmed slightly by the heat of the steam from the bathroom.

Lucio had stayed put as he had when she’d stepped into the shower. A beat of silence passed before Satya decided to say something.

“I’m finished bathing, you may use the shower if you wish,” Satya said awkwardly.

“Oh, thanks,” Lucio replied absently.

The door to the bathroom closed and Satya was left alone with her thoughts. This whole situation was still so bizarre to comprehend. To be in such close quarters with an enemy was unnerving.

While nursing the numbness that fell upon her, Satya remembered information she’d learn about Lucio through meetings and gossip between her coworkers. It’d been a long, long time since someone had gone against Vishkar. During read-ups while she had free time, Satya discovered how Vishkar easily quashed any and all rebellion on their part, except for a few sparse exceptions, in the past. Lucio and his rebel group was now a continuous thorn in their almost ever perfect record. Not to mention the stolen tech he’d taken from their main building, which he used to modify and help rally his fellow ruffians into more organized protests.

She could take it…his equipment. She’d quietly watched him from her peripheral tuck it away underneath his bed. She could just leave with the modified equipment and bring it to her bosses. It was easy. All too easy. The answer was all too simple yet immensely complicated. Now Satya was frozen not from just numbness but from hesitation. She wondered how it could be so hard to decide between things that were so clearly black and white. She hadn’t realized she was clenching her hands until she withdrew her fingernails from her fisted palms, crescent moons dug deeply into her flesh.

Before she could make a move, she heard the bathroom door open with a _fsshh_. Lucio stepped out, toweling his hair. He’d untied his dreads and the locks hung loosely across his shoulders. He’d pulled on a pair of green striped pajamas. As he walked past Satya, she caught a whiff of the shampoo he’d used. The sharp sweetness of lime and mint filled the air and made Satya feel dizzy with a feeling she couldn’t quite place.

Lucio turned towards her, the lamp light illuminating his face in a warm glow. “You ready to turn in for the night?”

“I suppose so,” Satya replied, pulling the covers over herself as she stared vacantly at the ceiling above. It was low and against the cream backdrop was dotted with a number of stains.

Lucio clicked off the lamp and the room was washed in a wave of midnight blue. A dreamy sliver of blue entered from the window by the balcony. Satya turned towards her left, anxiety squeezing her heart. Lucio shuffled in his bed, his back turned from Satya. Satya turned to lay on her back again and gazed across at the view across her bed. Two straw chairs sat with a short coffee table between them. The transparent glass hosted a messy array of tourist guides and dog-eared magazines. The limited light from the moon outside made several of the glossy magazine covers shimmer in the dark.

Maybe Lucio had wished her good night, maybe he hadn’t. Satya hadn’t paid attention nor did she have the energy to ask if he did. His voice was smothered by his pillow, dulling his words into an incomprehensible mumble. Satya’s eyes fluttered closed, her body finally recognizing the strain she’d put upon it. Everywhere ached and she tried to slow her breathing with paced inhales and exhales. The only sounds within the room was the calm, deep breathing of Lucio fast asleep by the window and crickets chirping softly outside.

 After restlessly tossing and turning for a multitude of the night, Satya finally fell into a heavy sleep. Her dreams were filled with the moon watching her from above as her vision swam with green, green, green. The muffled cadence of a high tempo song was ringing high in her ears as she ran across the starry backdrop of the sky, a hand as warm as fire guiding her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit slow, in all honesty. I hope you like it all the same! Please tell me what you think! C:


	3. The Return Back

Satya woke up with a start, gasping. For a moment, she forgot where she was. Flashbacks of the night before began flooding in like an open dam. She pinched her forehead, frowning slightly as she felt dried sweat between her fingertips. Of course. She was in _The Little Parrot._ She clamped her hands around the sheets, glancing slowly around the room. Everything was the same as it had been last night. Except that Lucio was nowhere to be found.

His bed was neatly made and his visor had disappeared from the bedside table. Satya felt a sense of panic seize itself within her chest. Had he gone and left her to her own devices now that he was safe and sound within his hometown? She scrambled off her bed in a flurry and ran towards the coffee table. She searched to see if he left even an inkling of a note or message to signal he’d really left. There was nothing. No matter how many times Satya upturned the magazines and tourist guides, not a single slip of paper fell from their pages.

Satya began to pace about the room, planning out her next move. She was not familiar with the area at all within the favela. Because of the job assignments that came with being an architech, she had no need to be assigned to working within the favelas at the current time. There was no way she could just head out and attempt to navigate on her own. While her sense of direction was impeccable, it was futile. Satya had to also take into consideration that she had no extra change of clothes to slip into minus the pajamas on her person. If she walked out in broad daylight in her Vishkar-issued uniform, who knows what sort of uproar her unexpected appearance would cause to the locals.

Before she could think on it more, the door to the hotel room opened. Satya jumped, not knowing who to expect beyond the threshold. Lucio walked in, carrying a rather large breakfast tray.

He had a slightly sheepish look upon his face as he scratched the back of his neck. “Sorry for leaving all of a sudden. I went to go get us some breakfast.”

Satya coughed into her fist before brushing off dust from her pajamas. “I see. Thank you.”

Lucio set the tray down on the coffee table and plopped onto the seat towards the right. “Dig in!”  
There were ham and cheese sandwiches, a small cake, various forms of sliced fruit, a jug of water and two mugs of piping hot _café com leite._

 Satya slowly settled into the seat to Lucio’s left and hesitantly picked up a slice of mango and took a bite. It was juicy and sweet, with a slight crunch as she chewed the slice experimentally. She ate some other fruit slices before picking up a sandwich. The bread was lightly toasted and the combination of baked ham and melted cheese was simple yet incredibly delicious. Satya carefully cradled a cut portion of the cake in her palm before taking a small bite. Tart orange spilled on her tongue and sugar and various spices toned down the sharp citrus in the fluffy pastry. She washed it all down with a glass of water but Lucio pushed one of the steaming mugs toward her side of the tray.

“The people here make really good coffee,” Lucio said, nodding towards the mug.

Satya didn’t usually indulge in the drink, but she thought it’d be rude if she refused. She picked up the mug and took a sip. Besides the immediate spike of caffeine, the drink was rich and flavorful with hints of vanilla and the creaminess of fresh, whole milk.

 Lucio sat with anticipation, a broad smile on his lips. “So? What did you think?”

 Satya put the mug down slowly and wiped her mouth with a napkin. “It was…quite good, actually.”

“Well I’m glad you find everything satisfactory, I would take you’d be more picky given that you’re an up-class employee and all,” Lucio said, crossing his arms and chuckling.

“Well that is true, it’s never convenient to limit your dietary options, since it will only make it harder for yourself to assimilate into different places while travelling,” Satya replied curtly. She took another bite of the orange cake. “I try to keep my mind open on the local cuisine, even if the options may appear unappetizing or unappealing.”

 “I guess that makes sense,” Lucio replied, shrugging as he took another piece of fruit.

After they finished eating, they both went down to bring the tray to the kitchen area. When they went back to the room, they both each took a respective shower and got themselves ready. Lucio bent down afterwards to grab his bag and gear. He slung his gun across his back and looked expectantly at Satya as she smoothed the wrinkles across the front of her skirt.  The faint tang of sweat still lingered among her clothes and she tried her best not to wrinkle her nose in distaste.

“You know, you can’t go out looking like that,” Lucio said pointedly.

“I know…I do not have another change of clothes though,” Satya agreed sagely.

“Here, I always keep a spare pair of clothes on me, you can borrow ‘em,” Lucio bent down and unzipped his bag to grab a set of clothes.

It was the same outfit he was currently wearing except it was in various shades of blue.

“Oh look, it kinda matches the uniform you have on,” Lucio said with a wry smile.

Satya was silent, her fingers running absently across the material before she headed to the bathroom to change. The clothes he’d given her were permeated with the same sweet scent of mint and lime from the previous night.

 When Satya came out, she held her right arm tightly with the other. Having her arms exposed made her feel incredibly naked. She hid her visor so it wouldn’t draw unneeded attention. She disguised her prosthetic arm to make it look barely human in appearance. It wasn’t the most perfect disguise since anyone peering closely could see the spindles of hard light threaded together and know it was merely an illusion.

“I don’t understand how you can be comfortable in exposing so much skin,” Satya remarked sharply.

Lucio shrugged. “I’m used to it the weather conditions make it that we don’t need to wear a lot of layers.”

Satya felt numb. It was odd not having her visor across her face and seeing a flesh and blood arm to her left was unnerving. She tried to brush her discomfort aside and said finally, “So where are we headed now?”

“I’ll bring you back to your company building,” Lucio said. “I’m sure you don’t exactly know the way back.”

Satya nodded. The two of them soon left the inn and Lucio led the way through a hidden alleyway. They cut through several hidden paths by worse-for-wear buildings, backyards, and continuous alleyways.  They barely passed people along the way and when they did, Satya tried her best to act as inconspicuously as possible. If people looked at her, they would just assume she was just a fan of Lucio’s music since she was wearing items donned with his signature frog logo. Satya noticed the slight limp in Lucio’s step, noting that the injuries he’d sustained nights before were still quite serious. Thankfully, the inn keepers seemed to have tended to him because he’d had on a fresh bandage over the large bruise over his eye and she could see the stretched lines of gauze hugging against the tight fabric of his shirt beneath.   Finally, they reached the entry within the favela. The favela was a wide distance away from the multiple buildings that made up the Vishkar Corporation within Brazil.

“I think it’s best if I stay here,” Lucio said.

“It’s fine, I can find my way back,” Satya replied. Before she had a chance to turn around, Lucio brought a gloved hand up.

“Hey, I don’t mean offense but I think it’s best if I don’t see you ever again,” Lucio said.

Satya nodded slowly. “I understand. Thank you for helping me, I greatly appreciate it.” It felt…odd thanking a street ruffian. A strange feeling welled up in her heart and Satya quickly quashed it, thinking it was best not to let unbeknownst emotions to lie low for the moment.

Lucio simply nodded in reply and made a gesture for her that she should really be going.

Without looking back, Satya began heading down the pathway that would lead her back to Vishkar Corporation. When she finally reached the door to the side entrance of the main building, did she dare glance back to see what Lucio was doing. She could see his figure in the distance and it seemed he was watching her as well. She saw him quickly turn around, walk towards an alleyway, and disappear within its depths. Satya found a private corner away from prying cameras and quickly changed back into her uniform. She wasn’t sure what she should do with the clothes he’d let her borrow. She found a trashcan near the entrance and placed them carefully beneath its slightly levitating bottom. No one would suspect it and the front, back, and sides of the trashcan were protected with solid barriers so it’d be impossible for anyone to see the clothes lying underneath.

There were few moments where Satya had thought chaos would be what awaited her whenever she returned to Vishkar. A sense of peace, the untangling of nerves, and relaxation was what she felt whenever she came back to comforting, familiar room which she deemed as her home. But under the odd circumstances that occurred from the night before, she knew there was going to be an uproar once she takes a step through the threshold of her company’s doorway and a sense of anxiety threaded through her nerves as she brought her hand forth to push open the door. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't think I'd be able to get this out as soon as it would! I'm really happy for staying diligent and writing whenever I can. It's harder now since I have school and other personal projects I'd like to attend to, but I'll do my best! Not sure when the next chapter will be out, but hopefully sooner than later. The chapter's a bit short, but I hope you still enjoy it anyways! Please tell me what you think of it!


	4. Eyes Half Open

As soon as Satya walked through the door, she was immediately swarmed by staff from every echelon, high to low, from every corner. The sensory overload made her feel overwhelmed as people began bombarding her with question after question. They must’ve seen her walk through from one of the many entry cameras set within the lobbies. Satya’s throat went dry like sand as she opened her mouth and closed and repeated the gesture, trying but failing to make words form on her tongue.

 “Everyone! I’m sure Ms. Vaswani would _love_ to answer all your questions but I think it’d be in everyone’s best interest if you gave her space to breathe,” a voice called out from the onslaught of people gathered around her. Satya turned to the source of the voice. Immediately, she could see the crowd part in waves towards whomever had spoken. It belonged to one of her most trusted colleagues, Sanjay. Satya ventured a small, grateful smile towards him as he walked towards her side.

“Get back to work everyone, we’ll inform you on what happened these past two days in time,” Sanjay assured the growing crowd around them. He leaned down to whisper in Satya’s ear. “The higher-ups want to see you in one of the main offices.”

Satya felt fear and worry climb like vines into the center of her chest. She nodded silently as Sanjay guided her towards the hallway heading to the offices. She thanked herself for not going inside wearing Lucio’s clothing into the building. A small thought in the back of her mind had deemed it safe and okay to do, but the sight of her in anything but her issued uniform would cause her colleagues to possibly question her loyalty to the company and she didn’t need any more trouble on her plate than she had now.

She’d guessed they asked Sanjay to be her escort since the two of them were close and cooperated well together whenever they were paired to do partner or group work. Satya noted how uncomfortably silent the halls were, the only noises coming from Sanjay’s work shoes and her heels. Eventually, they arrived at their destination and Sanjay pulled open the doorknob of the tinted door leading to the office.

The person sitting in the tall swivel chair turned as both she and Sanjay entered the room. A woman wearing a simple monochrome one-piece suit sat upon the seat with her hands folded on her folded legs. Another woman and two men stood by her large dark office oak table. “I’m sure you know why you were called here, Ms. Vaswani.”

“I have some assumptions, yes,” Satya replied.

“I know it’s a bit jarring to get called here when you barely have had time to catch your breath,” the woman replied. She was one of the heads of Vishkar, Diya Rastogi. “We need you to inform us on what went down when you were under the hostage of the rebel leader.”

It took Satya a moment before she replied, “Yes?”

“We will address your unauthorized entrance to the…hidden room incorporated into the left alcove of the main building,” Diya said. “But for now, it is imperative that we know what dos Santos has said to you and if he’s done anything of importance that needs to be noted.”

Satya began fabricating an elaborate lie within her mind. She knew the heads wouldn’t be satisfied if she told them the truth and that she hadn’t taken any ‘necessary action’ towards him while they made their escape. She would likely be punished if they knew of the bystander actions she went with being in company with Lucio. She remembered that the cameras were destroyed by Lucio’s sound gun and that the impact of the music probably tainted the cameras’ sound function as well even before they were obliterated. Taken from the muted footage, Vishkar security monitors would assume that Satya was already under hostage and was threatened if she didn’t show him where his items were kept. If the cameras were busted from when she took his hand, the only footage left would be the ones shown from the cameras on the outside where they switched positions and Lucio had taken her hand instead. Satya thanked the angle in which Lucio’s cell was in. There were wide, tall pillars covering the cameras around that particular area.

She finally took a deep breath and relayed the lie to her heads. Lucio had grabbed her arm when she’d gotten close to the prison cell. He’d threatened her and she had no choice but to let him out with her handprint. She led him to the closet where his gear was being held. Thinking it’d be to his advantage, he decided to take Satya hostage. He took her to secluded factory warehouse where they interrogated her for Vishkar secrets. She wouldn’t let up and they eventually left to take a break. Her bounds were not tightened properly and she managed to let herself loose and escaped. While it was true this whole predicament didn’t change the fact that she still disliked Lucio, guilt bloomed in her chest for unknown reasons.

Diya tapped her chin in thought, taking in the conjured lie Satya made. She finally looked at Satya and said, “Thank you for telling us this. We must be careful and proceed to have more tight security protocol so something like this won’t happen again.”

One of the men standing with Diya was one of the security guards from two nights ago, Satya vaguely remembered his name being Ravi Deshad. He came forth and said, “We need to talk with you regarding the hidden prison cell, Ms. Vaswani.”

“Yes, of course,” Satya replied, nodding complacently.

“We have kept this particular area hidden from most of the Vishkar staff, as you may know some members might have conflicting reactions knowing it exists but it is for the good of many of the lingering criminals lurking around Rio,” Diya explained. “Of course we won’t keep this bit of information hidden forever. Eventually we must reveal it. We don’t do anything to the prisoners; they were fed and taken care of well enough. If they comply, we will let them go, if not, they will be released with ransom money.”

Diya clasped her hands together. “Do we have your utmost trust, Satya Vaswani, to keep what you’ve seen within the prison cell to yourself?”

Satya gave direct contact to Diya. “You have my trust I promise to not tell a soul about what I’ve seen.”

Diya sat, hawk-like, atop her chair watching Satya. Her gaze felt like it’d last forever, and Satya willed herself to not squirm underneath her unfaltering stare.

Finally, the woman nodded and said with finality, “I’ll take your word for it, then.”

Diya looked around and nodded towards everyone within her office. “That is all, thank you all for coming. You may all leave.”

Everyone bowed their heads and headed towards the exit.

“Well, that was certainly an intense meeting, wasn’t it?” Sanjay said, huffing a relieved sigh as they walked down the hallway towards the main building.

“Agreed,” Satya said, exhaling heavily. She held a hand towards her chest, feeling her heart beating hard against her chest. She then brought the back of her palm towards her forehead, the beginnings of sweat droplets forming on her brow.

“How about we grab lunch? You must be starved,” Sanjay suggested.

“That would be lovely, thank you,” Satya replied.

Even though she tried to shove the thoughts to the back of her mind, the simple breakfast she’d had with Lucio popped in her mind.

Satya bit her lip, clenching her hands into fists.

“Something wrong, Satya?” Sanjay asked, his face crinkling in concern.

"Nothing, I’m just a bit stressed from this whole ordeal,” Satya lied, shaking her head.

“I get more irritable if I don’t eat for long periods of time, that must be the case,” Sanjay said.

 Satya simply nodded and followed him towards the dining hall.

The dining hall was decorated in the signature aqua blue issued on one of the uniform alternatives. The tables were made and colored with solid white hard light components. The chairs were silver with blue accents on the legs and armrests. Lamps from the ceiling, illuminating a mild light and covered with a simple blue-tinted chrome shade. The floor was placed with transparent, white-marbled tile that reflected people’s feet to a tee.

“…Something wrong, Satya? It’s strange to find you not touching the _biryani,_ ” Sanjay said, looking up from his meal. “I know it’s your favorite.”

Satya didn’t realize she had barely touched her food. She ate a few bites here and there, but she didn’t have the feeling to stomach anything at the moment. It was such a shame, there weren’t many times when biryani was served in the cafeteria.

“I don’t really have much of an appetite at the moment,” Satya said, finally. She drained her glass of water, placing it carefully upon the table. Her throat felt so dry.

“I think I’ll go to the work stations to clear my head a bit,” Satya said.

“Well, if you say so,” Sanjay said, his tone uncertain and hesitant. “You know where to find me if you need anything.”

Satya returned her tray at the drop-off area and headed towards the exit. She could see Sanjay at the corner of her eye had returned back to his meal. His back hunched and his jaw working vigorously on a bite of lamb. She guessed he didn’t have much to eat from earlier in the day; she knew he sometimes forgot to eat when he was focused on a project.

 Satya settled down in an open seat at her favorite workstation. She didn’t usually like going when there were many people around but she knew she was already behind on her assigned tasks. She had many prototypes to test, data she needed to collect for her own personal projects, and blueprints to sketch out. Usually she’d use her visor to tune out the commotion of conversations around her, but she had an itch to hear what people thought of her whole ordeal with Lucio. The incident was still fresh and recent and she knew many of her colleagues loved to gossip and revel in the latest happenings on a day-to-day basis.

A few glances were thrown her way when she had entered the room already. Nothing cold or judgmental, likely on the borderline of _curious_ if anything. Everyone then went back to work and continued their respective conversations.

“I feel bad for the spokespeople who have to deal with the locals living the favela,” a man piped up to her left.

“I’d probably get a headache every day, do you know how many painkillers that would take out of my paycheck?”

“Have you heard anything of the new housing plan they’re making preparing for the people?”

“I haven’t heard any word of it, it made all be a hoax, you know? Our main goal was to quash Calado from seizing control,” another person said. “Well, we never know, do we? We’ll just have to see how it goes.”

Satya’s hands instinctively struck against the shiny tabletop of her workstation. All eyes flew towards her. Her back stiffened. “I’m sorry, everyone…I just remembered something I must do.”

She gathered her items in her arms and fled the room. The interiors of the rooms she passed blurred as she ran towards the housing apartments at the back of the main building. She didn’t stop even when she dashed into a near-closing elevator. She pressed the button that read ‘45’ and waited towards the back, her breath puffing from her lips. The silence was suffocating. No one turned to ask if she were alright. They either looked up towards the increasing number at the elevator buttons or at the door, willing it to open to their floor. There were fifty floors in the apartment complex Satya currently stayed in. There were about six different complexes all together, squashed in close proximity with each other. Finally, after several minutes, the elevator arrived at her floor. Satya didn’t mind the wait since the view was breathtaking from the window in her room. She unlocked the door with her key code and stepped through the threshold. The room was washed in the dim twilight of the evening. A pale blue light sluiced the darkness shrouding her bedroom. She turned on the lamp light near her bedside table and the room was lit with a warm gold glow. The sun’s setting rays grab at the sky for a few moments before settling below the mountains. Satya could see the first stars begin to flicker into view on a curtain of blue. Satya sat on the edge of her bed, could hear her bedsheets rustle as she settled her weight into it. She could not feel calm. Her heart thrummed at a medium rate, not slow and steady like homeostasis but not fast as if adrenaline were pumping through her veins.

Satya forced herself to stand. She imagined the music that used to play upon the streets of Hyderabad. The voice of her former instructor within the small dancehall that taught lessons each Monday and Friday. She got into position and began to dance. Her arms sliced through the air and her legs bent at curved angles. She could feel the flow of the dance pulsing through her body as she swept across the room. As she slowed and settled into a standing stance, she inhaled heavily. The anxiety flowing throughout her body was still there. It was odd that the usual comforting movement of her hometown’s dance couldn’t quell her nerves.

Giving up, Satya settled back down on her bed. The snippets from her coworkers’ conversations came back full throttle within her mind. What did they mean when they talked of the promised housing they were going to implement within the favela? That was a crucial part of gaining the trust of the locals. Was it really what the one man had said, a lie, a hoax? Satya shook her head. She didn’t want to believe it. She wanted to believe there was no inner corruption within the halls of Vishkar. There _couldn’t_ be. Vishkar was supposed to bring justice and order to Brazil. That was the reason they were currently stationed here, to make change for the greater good.

Satya didn’t remember ever feeling such doubt within the company that raised and groomed her to what she was today. Lines worried her forehead as she brought forth a geometric prism into the palm of her left hand. The prism rotated languidly within the open palm, its pale light giving an azure glow upon Satya’s face as she brought it closer to her eye. Was what she was doing the right thing? Was everything that she knew all a fabricated lie? Were her efforts, the change and order she sought so much for, all for naught? What-ifs crawled from the deep corners of her mind, coming forth to her attention. Satya sighed, her concentration broken, the prism in her palm breaking into small fragmented pieces as the power gem closed on her hand. Desperate to find anything to distract her thoughts, Satya decided to begin her nightly rituals for bed, a shower maybe providing her solace for her worries. She took one last glance at her bedroom window, overlooking not only Vishkar Corporation but into the favela as well. She could see the lights glowing from the buildings above. She wondered absently what Lucio was doing. She shook her head. Having him in her thoughts wasn’t going to do any good, nor would it solve anything.

She turned her lamp off, the room reverting back to the crisp pale light of the moon. Gathering her things, she headed to her bathroom. For a few minutes she stood with her back turned towards the door, holding her bath bag in hand. Satya clicked her tongue and dropped her things on the floor and headed back towards her room. She sprawled across her bed, her arms and legs splayed across the sheets. Her hair was a dark pool around her shoulders. She raised her palm up, and spun the model of the star system she’d fabricated a long while ago. It’d been a personal project she’d worked on one of the free days she had when all her work had been finished. She watched as the stars twinkled in the pale likeness of the hard light. She’d even went to the effort of adding sound effects to the stars as they twinkled in the sky. Satya rolled her head backward and closed her eyes. A small sense of calm washed over her. She listened to the tinkling of the artificial stars as her mind drifted to the sharp spice of cake and the citrus fragrance of lemon and mint.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A nice change of pace for the next chapter! It'll be in Lucio's POV. I hope you enjoy this chapter, hopefully it wasn't too short. Please tell me what you think and I hope you all have a great rest of your day! :>


	5. Where the Frog Lies

 

Lucio watched from above as Satya descended from the hill where they both previously stood. The wind swept through her hair, he could see the glittering, luminescent aqua of her earrings swaying in the faint breeze. He could see as she neared the door, she had looked back. He briefly met her gaze before turning around and heading back towards the entrance of the favela. Things were as they were before, nothing had initially changed. It was for the best; nothing would come to fruition if their worlds clashed together.

 Lucio cut through the complicated pathways to go back to his home. He knew his mother was already worrying about him and his steps increased as he saw the familiar buildings in the neighborhood his family’s house was situated in. Golden light poured from the open windows and he caught a whiff of the dinner being prepared that night. He went inside and saw his mother, older brother and sister adding the finishing touches to their dinner in the kitchen. His younger siblings were playing with toy trains upon the frayed family rug. Lucio immediately went into the kitchen and began setting up the silverware on the dining table.

Alana turned around, wiping her hands into her apron. “Lucio, welcome home!”

“I’m back, Ma,” Lucio replied, smiling brightly.

Alana thinned her lips. “You are late.”

“I’m sorry, I was attending to some business with the local dancehall,” Lucio said, feeling immediate guilt as he told the lie.

“Please make sure you return home before evening falls, you never know what those enforcers might do if they catch you late outside in the streets,” Alana said, her brow furrowing slightly.

“You know I’m always careful, Ma,” Lucio assured his mother.

“I know, _meu querido,_ I know, I just worry sometimes,” Alana said, returning her son’s smile.

“Enough of that talk, let’s get ready to eat!” cried Natalia, clapping her hands.

“You’re right, let’s not think of sad things and enjoy the food!” chimed in Theo.

“Dinnertime! Dinnertime!” cried the two younger members of the family, Milena and Lucca.

“Your father will not be returning tonight, he has overtime,” Alana replied, her smile faltering slightly. “We will see him in the morning, though.”

Alana shook her head and began placing the assortment of food on the table. There was _Bobó de camarão_ , fresh fruit from the local market, and a house salad made from vegetables grown in the family’s backyard garden. Everyone gathered at the table to seat themselves down. In less than five seconds, everyone began to eat.

“What were you doing at the dancehall today, Lucio?” Milena asked.

“Oh, you know, the usual,” Lucio said dismissively, waving his hand.

“I want to take dance lessons at the dance studio, Lucio!” Lucca exclaimed excitedly.

“I’ll take you there the next time I have a scheduled shift,” Lucio said. “Pinky promise.”

The two linked their pinkies and laughed as the pact was formed.

“Are any of you planning on going out tonight?” Alana asked.

“Well, I was going to do some deliveries since my company had gotten some packages at the last minute just now,” Natalia said.

“You should tell them you can’t, the curfew is almost set for tonight,” Alana said.

“Oh, you’re right, it’d be pretty dangerous to go out now,” Natalia agreed, biting her lip nervously. “I’ll call them after I’m done eating.”

Lucio frowned slightly as he looked at his plate. He continued eating in silence.

“Is there anything you’re planning on doing in the near future, Lucio?” Alana piped suddenly.

Lucio jumped slightly, jostling the silverware near his hands. “Oh well…I was planning on possibly organizing another protest but I still need to plan more and get more details on how to set it all up.”

“I am supportive of your endeavor but please, my dear son, please be careful,” Alana said, her eyes crinkling with worry. “What you are doing is very dangerous, even if it’s for the good of our community.”

“People need to know that they aren’t alone in what Vishkar is doing is inhumane and wrong, we need evidence to show that we can unite and protest and fight if need be for the freedom we deserve,” Lucio said.

The whole table became silent. All of Lucio’s siblings looked at him.

Natalia and Theo looked at him with a hopeful gaze with hints of worry. Natalia clasped her hands and Theo nodded at Lucio wordlessly. Lucca and Milena had faces of confusion but with the positive energy still present in the atmosphere, they smiled tentatively. Alana looked at her son, worry and tension present in her expression, a long moment before releasing a heavy sigh.

“You are brave, I want you to know I am proud, that my son has such strength to help us all in overcoming the troubles that have befell Rio,” Alana said, shaking her head before giving a smile.

Lucio began to tear up slightly at his mother’s words. “Thank you, Ma, you don’t know how happy I am to hear that from you.”

Alana looked around the table at all her children and gave a cheeky wink. “That doesn’t mean I am not proud of my other children as well. You all have a special place in my heart.”

The whole table erupted in laughter. The dinner continued happily and everyone helped to clear the table and wash the dishes. Natalia goes to the home phone placed near the front door of their house and calls her company that she can’t make it that night.

Everyone soon gets ready for the night. Lucio shares a room with both Lucca and Milena. They share a bunk bed while he gets a cot to himself. There’s a window facing the front of the twins’ bunkbeds and one to the right of Lucio’s side of the room. An antique nightstand sits in the center holding an old alarm clock, a lamp given to them by their grandmother, and miscellaneous items owned by both Lucio and the twins. Toy mobiles decorate the tops of the ceilings detailing the twins’ interests. Airplanes and animals for Milena and flowers and music notes for Lucca. Posters of Lucio’s favorite artists and musicians decorated the walls in haphazard angles and magazine clippings he’d cut out over the years sluiced the glossy, crinkled paper of the posters. The bed stand overhead his pillows showed paraphernalia of various merchandise he’d snagged online from cheap sellers and handmade crafts he’d made in his free-time such as the glow-in-the-dark frog paperweight sitting in the corner.

“Alright, guys, I’m turning off the light,” Lucio said as he settled back into his bed.

“’Kay!” both of the twins said.

The lamp was turned off and the room was washed in dim twilight. Moonlight streamed in from the un-curtained windows and left a silvery glow within the room. Lucio leaned back, settling his head on his pillow. He could hear crickets chirping softly outside and the wind rustling the grass and trees in the distance. He closed his eyes, a faint melody forming in his mind. Perhaps he could add it to the roster of his next album. He thought of his father, hoping that he was safe at his job. His mother must be worried sick in her room.

“Good night, Lucca, Milena!” Lucio called.

“Good night, Lucio! Sweet dreams!” They both called.

“Sweet dreams to you two, too,” Lucio replied.

Lucio pulled the covers of his blankets, handmade quilts made by their aunt, to his neck. He fell asleep with a smile on his lips and the faint symphonies of new, phantom songs playing in his dreams.

                                                                                                          -

In the morning, when Lucio awoke, was the smell of breakfast being made in the kitchen. He could smell sweet batter, strawberries and fresh cream in the air. He walked into the kitchen half-bleary-eyed to find his father chopping fruit on a cutting block.

“Good morning, Lucio!” His father, Fernando, said, grinning brightly at his son.

“’Morning, Papa! When did you wake up?” Lucio said, easily stepping to his father’s side and helping him with the pancake batter.

Fernando slapped his son’s hand playfully, signaling he didn’t need to help. “Oh, about three hours ago.”

“Papa, you must be tired! Let me help!” Lucio said.

“It’s really fine, I can handle this,” Fernando assured.

“If you say so, holler if you need any assistance,” Lucio said.

He was making his famous strawberry tapioca pancakes with cheese drizzled on top.

Lucio’s mouth watered at being able to eat them later that morning.

“I heard from your mother earlier that you’re thinking of organizing another protest to Vishkar,” Fernando said absently.

“Yeah, I am,” Lucio said.

“Please be careful, the last thing I want to happen is for you and your supporters get hurt,” Fernando said, turning a worried eye towards his son.

“I won’t, I promise,” Lucio said, certainty lining his voice.

“If you are sure, then I believe you, my son,” Fernando said, turning away to cooking the batter for the pancakes. “I hope your cause is successful and that you can help us cope with what the people of Vishkar have done to our people.”

“I will do my best, Papa,” Lucio assured.

“You make me proud, Lucio, all of us are,” Fernando replied, a faint smile present in his voice.

In trickles, the family soon woke. People gathered sleepily at the dining table and seated themselves down, yawning and looking out the kitchen windows. Fernando had just finished the last batch of pancakes and handed them out to everyone. He then dusted powdered sugar the family had procured at the local market earlier that week on the fluffy cakes.

Lucio happily bit into the first bite, relishing the taste of the cream filling, soft powdered sugar, and melted cheese on his tongue. He polished it off with orange juice that he took from the fridge. As his family started eating, Lucio stood to prepare his own twist to his father’s recipe, he added melted chocolate and banana to the mix. He packed the pancakes in a disposable tin and told his family he was going to spend some time talking with friends.

Lucio ran out of the house and headed towards _The Little Parrot._ He went inside and handed the homemade pancakes to the innkeeper. He told him to share it with his family and that he was grateful they helped to tend to his injuries and let his friend stay for the night. The innkeeper winked and said it was no trouble. Lucio gave him a wave and left the premises as the old man went to the back to share the pancakes with his family. Lucio took out his old model cellphone and called a couple of his close friends. He would meet them at his friend Luiz’s front step to talk with matters on the next protest. He pocketed the cellphone and continued running towards Luiz’s house.

Luiz’s house was down a hill and surrounded by a large outcropping of trees. Splinters of light peeked through the gaps between the leaves and the dirt road that led to the row of homes was rough and kicked up dust no matter what vehicle rode upon it. Two rusty bikes leant against the wrinkly, whitewashed house and Lucio could see in the distance that Luiz was already sitting upon the front steps of his threshold and Joana was jogging down the dirt path with her bag slapping against her hip.

“Hey, guys!” Joana called, waving her arm as she reached the two of them.

“Hey!” Lucio and Luiz said in unison.

“So, what’s up?” Joana asked, placing her hands on her hips and smiling cheerfully.

“I wanted to talk to you guys about what I should do with the next protest I’m beginning to plan,” Lucio said.

Luiz nodded. “Thanks for calling us for the brainstorming.”

“We have to the meet at the warehouse later with the others but I wanted to let you guys know beforehand when we all have the group discussion,” Lucio explained.

“Did you have anything specific in mind for this one?” Luiz asked.

“I took some time off from the dancehall and music lessons to tinker with the Vishkar tech that I got from the last night raid,” Lucio said. “It took me a while, but I made some duplicates for several of us to use if things get a bit violent.”

“Ooh! What did you do to their control guns?” Joana asked.

Lucio grinned knowingly. “Let’s just say that instead of the guns being used to control, we can also get _our_ point across but with the power of music.”

Both Luiz and Joana made excited noises and clapped their hands in anticipation.

“I can’t wait!” Joana cried, clasping her hands together.

“I know we lost a few members since the last protest almost got out of hand,” Lucio said.

“Yeah, it was scary when those Vishkar goons brought out those shiny stun guns,” Luiz said, holding his arms as he feigned a shiver.

“Thankfully we handled it in a peaceful manner despite their incoming force,” Joana pointed out.

“We should get an advantage to Vishkar somehow for this protest, we might need to ask for an authority figure to be able to stand by our side,” Lucio said, tapping a finger against his lips in thought.

Joana sighed and plopped onto the dry road, sending a reddish cloud of dirt to fly up in the air. “How do we find anyone like that around here?”

Luiz shot her a look of annoyance before he said, “Do you think it’d be hard to find a trustworthy local company around here?”

“That’s true, we have to be careful that whoever we bring in won’t backstab us when we’re over with the protest,” Lucio said.

Joana and Luiz and clapped a fist on their open palms at the same time. “OH!”

“What? You guys got something?” Lucio asked, looking at his two friends.

“It was in the news, wasn’t it?” Joana said, pointing at Luiz.

“It’s the company Calado, they’ve been a loyal company around our area for quite some time,” Luiz said, returning the gesture towards Joana.

“It was during when the Calado company building had a sudden, unexpected explosion,” Lucio said gravely.

“Yeah…” both Joana and Luiz said softly.

“It was not a good time,” Joana said quietly.

Luiz nodded slowly.

“It took them a long while to get themselves situated again,” Lucio said, remembering how he scoured the community newspapers to read what the reporters had found every morning.

“Do you think they might help with the protest, perhaps?” Joana asked.

“Maybe,” Lucio said.

“Can’t hurt to set up an appointment,” Luiz said, shrugging.

“I’ll make one when I go back home,” Lucio promised.

“Anything else you want to relay to us?” Luiz asked.

“I think that’s all I have for now, the protest plans are still in its preliminary stages, after all,” Lucio said.

“Well, if that’s all, we’ll see you at the warehouse meeting tonight at eight!” Joana exclaimed.

“Yeah, I’m sure we can get more ideas down if we all brainstorm together as a group,” Luiz said, a hopeful tone in his voice.

“Alright, I guess that settles it, I’ll see you two this evening!” Lucio cried, pumping his fist in the air.

Luiz and Joana followed the action and they all gave a cry of joy.

They all waved goodbye and Lucio headed back to the direction of his home.

When he arrived home, he went to the family’s communal office and hopped on their shared computer. He went to Calado Co.’s company website and wrote down their number. He took out his cellphone and called them. After a few rings, he was told to leave a message and his reason of calling the company. He hung up after making the appointment and waited till evening fell to go to the meeting at the warehouse.

The meeting was situated at one of the many abandoned factory buildings near a junkyard on the outskirts of town. A few of the windows were blown open and rusted equipment lay everywhere in disuse. The floor was made of cement, now cracked and marked with various chemical spills. The people that volunteered trickled in slowly as the sun waned low in the mountains. Eventually a great many of people arrived and sat in a wide circle on the floor. Lucio looked around and saw there were some people missing. He was sure that they wouldn’t be returning; there were a bunch of members that quit after the last protest which had turned violent from Vishkar’s end. Lucio didn’t blame them danger was something that was unfortunately included in the cause of a rebellion. Sometimes the pressure was all too much and people would resign their positions and go back to their regular lives.

Sitting near Lucio was Joana and Luiz. They nodded towards him as Lucio finished looking around the wide, open area of the warehouse. Lucio gestured in a wave to signal the start of the meeting.

                                                                                                          -

The meeting was a great success. As they say, two heads are better than one, as in this case, many heads. Everyone had helpful suggestions and ideas on how to conduct the operation. Lucio had handed out a prototype gun he’d been working on for quite some time. The members that had gathered gazed in awe as they handled the gun and overturned it to see its intricate details.

While Lucio had improved the sound blast with the tech he’d stolen from Vishkar, but added another new feature. By pressing a button located near the thumb, you can push a person away by the small sound barrier emitted from the gun. He brought a dummy stuffed with corn kernels and sewn inside a worn sack and did a demonstration which ended with the dummy being thrown halfway across the room. The circle of people had cheered and whooped in response.

 He was no professional medic by any means, but he often had to patch up his comrades after raids and began dabbling in learning basic medical procedures during his free time. By tweaking the hard light tech and adding his expertise on music that calmed the soul, he created something totally new. On a separate button, when pressed, it would release a stream of music he’d cultivated that healed immediate wounds with tweaked hard light components within the emission. It took much experimentation and many trials but after many, many attempts, Lucio was able to heal wounds he’d inflicted upon himself for the testing. Swiping a switch would change the heal button to a ‘speed boost’ that would strengthen the muscles and make the movements of whomever was around to run at a faster rate. He felt this was a very helpful when he’d have to guide fellow rebels when they had to make a fast escape.

He wanted to remind everyone that harming people wasn’t the aim of their cause. They were doing these protests to free Rio of Vishkar, lessen the corruption instilled by the company and to gain back their initial freedom from before. Only in self-defense and in emergencies were sound blasts allowed to be used. Everyone had nodded fervently. After talking with everyone a bit more, the meeting was soon adjourned. Everyone left quickly so they wouldn’t get caught by the curfew police that were surely about to be posted at that time.

Lucio, Joana, and Luiz all gave a quick goodbye and parted ways. Lucio snuck in the backways of old buildings to reach his home. He gave a heavy sigh as he neared the front door of his family’s home. He could smell the sharp scent of herbs and spices wafting from the open window by the kitchen. He opened the front door and saw his family putting the finishing touches to their dinner. His mother had her hands on her hips while his father had an expression of relief as he took a large dish in his arms.

“Where have you been?” Alana asked.

“Don’t worry, Ma, I just had a meeting with members at the usual spot,” Lucio said.

“Do you know how worried I was? Oh, come here, my little frog!” Alana squashed her arms around her son and he reciprocated the action.

Fernando gently patted both Alana and Lucio’s shoulders before placing the dish on the dining table.

The rest of the family was soon called and the evening meal then began.

                                                                                                     -

Lucio was soon jolted awake with a chipper ringtone blaring from his cellphone. He shuffled off his sheets and fumbled with his phone clumsily as he tried to clear his bleary eyes.

“Hello?” Lucio said, continually rubbing his eyes.

“Hello, am I speaking to Lucio Correia dos Santos?” a female voice asked.

“Yes, you are, how are you today?” Lucio said, scratching a stray area under his arm.

“I’m doing fine, I wanted to ask when you would like to schedule your appointment with us,” the voice said. “I am Alexandra Martinez by the way.”

Lucio mentally knocked his forehead at forgetting to schedule a time in his message the previous day. “Ms. Martinez, do you have a spot available at two in the afternoon?”

“Yes, we actually do! Would you like to schedule your appointment at that time?” Alexandra asked.

“Yes, if that’s no trouble,” Lucio replied.

“Of course, I have you in our appointments then. We’ll see you at two PM sharp,” Alexandra said briskly. Lucio could hear the muffled sound of clacking keys and a single, light tap.

“Thank you, I’ll be there at two PM!” Lucio said, his fist clenching in excitement.

“See you then,” Alexandra said, her voice faint as she hung up with a _click._

Lucio pumped his fist in the air and whooped.

Before he got ahead of himself, he realized he needed to find something acceptable to wear. He pounced off the edge of his bed and began to rifle through his small closet.

                                                                                                           -

After a quick breakfast of toast, fruit, and roast ham made by his father, Lucio took out the chipped, old scooter from their little garage and drove himself into the city. Time and time again, Lucio was always amazed at the scenery of the city. Tall, gleaming buildings seemingly reaching towards the smoky, polluted sky in the distance. Cars pumping past him in the lanes, honking and whizzing fast to who-knows-where. The acrid smell of gas, smoke, and chrome filled his nose as he drove further in the lane headed towards the city.

Finally, Lucio could see the tall main building of Calado Co. in the distance. He took the next exit and headed towards the direction of the building. He found a suitable spot in their parking complex and had to take a moment to look at the shiny, glittery cars parked everywhere. There were a few motorcycles and scooters of course, but his felt tiny and old-fashioned compared to the newer models scattered about the complex. Lucio shook his head. The model and design of his scooter didn’t matter. As long as it still worked and brought him to the places he needed to go to, its appearance wasn’t important. Lucio placed his helmet on the seat and locked the scooter in place. He walked across the room to an elevator and pressed the button to go down to the first floor.

Faint, jingly jazz music played in the elevator as Lucio descended, alone, towards the first floor of the main Calado building. The elevator was designed with a chrome bar wrapping around the box. The walls were made of a reflective gold material and also had promotional posters taped on a number of the surfaces. Lucio looked at himself absently on the opposite wall. He fidgeted nervously with the collar of his shirt. With a prominent _ding,_ the twin doors opened.

Lowered silver lights covered with a swirled opaque cover lined the ceilings. The walls were designed with a violet frame, the trademark color of Calado Co. Hard and soft sofas were lined against the wall, all either a mixture of white, violet, or a combination of both colors. A high, wooden wall had ‘Calado Co.’ labeled in large silver letters. Below was the reception desk with foursome of receptionists sitting among the large, closed area, tending to the people who came by. There was a revolving door located at the front of the first floor made of marble.

Lucio sat himself down on a soft, white sofa and fidgeted with his fingers. His back was rigid-straight against the plush material of the sofa. He had his dreads down and wore a black suit that had been a gift given to him by one of his uncles. He fumbled with his tie once again, a deep emerald color patterned with thin gold stripes. He’d shuffled through his shoes at the bottom of his closet and had reached and found one of his old dress shoes that were thankfully still in suitable condition and fit his ever-growing feet. He had a notepad hidden in his back pocket and pens clipped to his breast pocket for scribbling anything that could be useful for the oncoming protest.

He almost missed when his name was called.

“Are you Lucio Correia dos Santos?” a lady called.

She had her hair done in a braided bun and wore sharp glasses. She wore a form-fitting outfit of a dress shirt with a dark blue violet jacket on top with a matching skirt coming down to the knee.

“Yes I am,” Lucio replied. “And you are?”

“Ivy Melbourne,” the lady replied crisply. “I will now lead you to one of our meeting offices, now, if you please.”

Her face split into a gentle smile which shattered the sharp, businesslike image Lucio had initially thought of her.

Lucio was led down a winding violet hallway that had illuminated lights blinking behind its panels.

He took a long, steady breath. Lucio hoped that the appointment would be successful so they’d have at least one advantage when it came closer to the date of the protest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't initially plan this chapter to be long, but it turned out really, REALLY long! I guess it's nice since the chapters I've uploaded have been kinda short. I also found a really cute name for this pairing! It's called Symmphony! I give credit to Tumblr user, grimalkenkid, for the wonderful name! I'll add it to the tags. I was planning on doing a shared perspective between Lucio and Symmetra for the next chapter. Updates will be slower since I have school and personal projects to do. I hope you enjoy this chapter and please tell me what you think of it! Hope you all have a nice rest of your day! ^ v ^ /


	6. Domino Effect

The light chimes of Satya’s alarm woke her with a start. She rubbed her temple and groaned slightly realizing she had slept in her work clothes from the previous day. The sun’s first rays pierced through her blinds and she strode over and whipped them open. Satya brought an arm to shade herself from the blinding morning sun. When her eyes adjusted to the brightness, she peered outside. She looked at the expanse of Rio, the favelas, the mountains in the distance, and the modern buildings where Vishkar was currently settled upon. She sighed and turned away to get ready for her morning shower. Once she was finished, she toweled herself and selected a new uniform to put on for the day. She then sat at her personalized vanity and began to fix her hair and put on her eye makeup. She heard a blip from her messenger and paused to grab it from her bedside table.

Once she swiped the finishing touches to the wings, she took her messenger in hand and checked to see what had given her the alert. Diya had sent her an email that she needed to have an urgent meeting with her at ten o’clock sharp. Satya glanced at the time and saw that it was seven-thirty. She had lots of time to kill and get a nice, filling breakfast. She gave a speedy reply before turning off her messenger. She looked at herself one more time in the mirror, fluffed her hair, and headed out the door.

Satya headed towards the cafeteria and saw a few people already sitting at the dining tables and were eating their morning breakfast. Today on the breakfast menu featured Mexican cuisine. She felt unusually peckish that morning and took a plate of _huevos rancheros_ , a chorizo omelet, and a small breakfast burrito. She also brewed herself a cup of tea, chamomile, and walked towards an empty single seater and sat herself down. She browsed the news on her messenger as she quietly ate her breakfast. Some of her colleagues stopped by to have some small talk and wish her a good morning. When they left, she would wave and go back towards looking at news articles and various cooking websites to bookmark recipes to try out whenever she’d get a free day off. She put the cleared plates in the washing disposal and began to head towards Diya’s office for the unexpected meeting.

-

Lucio hopped on his scooter and sighed in relief. The smile that spread across his lips was as warm as rays of sunlight. The wind caressed his hair and his tie whipped across his neck from the turbulent breeze but he paid it no mind. The scenery zipped past him as one thought raced through Lucio’s mind: to go home. His scooter bumped across the uneven surface of the dirt road towards his neighborhood. When he neared the garage he got up, engine still roaring, took off his helmet, strapped it across one of the handlebars and shut off the vehicle with a practiced flick of his wrist.

He ran up the steps to the front door and whipped it open.

“I’m back, everyone!” He cried excitedly.

“Lucio! Welcome back!” Natalia called from the dining table. She had been working through some documents and quickly put her pen down to run over to him.

“So? What happened?” Natalia asked, giddiness swimming in her tone.

The other family members appeared from whatever they’d been doing previously and waited impatiently for Lucio to recount his meeting with Calado Co.

Lucio closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. He then opened them and raised his arms in the air, waving them wildly. “The meeting was a success!”

The whole family cheered and gathered to give a suffocating bear hug to Lucio.

“They listened to me as I told them about Vishkar and the extended problems they’ve brought to our community,” Lucio said, his voice slightly muffled. “I could tell some of the board members were still deeply affected by the explosion not too long ago and with some negotiations, their company as a whole have agreed to help my group out for the protest and rally.”

Words of praise flew through the air as Alana called for a celebratory dinner.

                                                                                                               -

As Satya approached the opaque door of Diya Rastogi’s office, she rapped her wrist against the glass panel of the door and waited.

“Come in,” A curt, muffled voice called from within.

Satya opened the door and saw Diya sitting at her wide oak desk with her assistant, Reynold Holtzer, by her side.

“It’s a pleasure seeing you this morning, Ms. Vaswani,” Diya said.

“The same goes to you, Ms. Rastogi,” Satya said, giving a slight bow.

“I’m sorry for calling you so early in the morning, I hope I haven’t interrupted you from any plans you might’ve had for today,” Diya said, a slight sheepish look upon her features.

“Oh no, you haven’t interrupted anything,” Satya assured.

“Now, you must be wondering what I called you here so early for,” Diya said.

Satya nodded.

“Well, I got a potential job opportunity you may be interested in,” Diya said, taking out a file from one of her desk drawers. “It regards an organization of secretive means.”

Satya’s ears perked in interest. “What organization are you speaking of?”

Diya smiled thinly. “Overwatch.”

Satya knitted her brow. “Overwatch? Wasn’t the organization disbanded years ago?”

“You are correct,” Diya replied.

“Is this a joke of some sort?” Satya asked.

“No, quite the contrary,” Diya said. “They’ve revived quite recently. Of course I’m sure you know they’re under some dangerous radar since the Petras Act had dissolved Overwatch and are still keeping them under wraps. We struck a deal with their current leader and we feel you’re an excellent candidate for representing Vishkar.”

“I am touched you feel that way,” Satya said, feeling a swell of pride grow in her chest.

Diya nodded. “You’ll be shadowing under their care and help them in their future missions and find more ways we can improve upon our architecture program, including finding new integrations and inventions.”

“I am not quite sure about the…unlawful measures of the organization though,” Satya admitted. “I don’t feel exactly comfortable putting myself under that kind of constant danger.”

“I don’t blame you, but I feel this is a rare opportunity that I encourage you to take but the choice in the end, is up to you,” Diya said, placing her perfectly manicured hands in a steeple.

Satya stood, forgetting that she could take a seat, and tapped her chin in thought. Even as a child, while not as fanatic as some of the neighborhood kids in her area, she’d always had an admiration to the people in Overwatch. The sparkling appearance of the heroes mesmerized her and in a small part of her mind, she wondered if she could become like one of them, too. It was a childish dream from her youth, but in this current situation, it was like a shockwave that brought Satya to a revelation. There was no part of her present self now that yearned to be a hero. Far from it, actually. But if it could help improve the reputation of Vishkar and help expand the company for its employees and employers, she might as well try.

Satya took a deep breath. “I’ll do it.”

Diya smirked slightly, satisfied. “Excellent, I’ll let the other higher-ups know of your decision. I suggest you start to packing. The date set for your departure hasn’t been decided yet, but I can guarantee it’s very soon.”

“Thank you, please let me know ahead of time when I need to leave for the assignment,” Satya said, nodding quickly.

Satya ventured back to her apartment and immediately began packing. She stopped and looked around her bedroom as she passed through the threshold. Satya had the strangest feeling she was looking at her room for the last time.  The desk by her bed was spotless and held her laptop, a neat stack of books, paperweights from her childhood, and stray materials used to tweak and fix her photon projector whenever it needed repairs. Her bed was made and the sheets were tucked in so no creases graced the surface of her bedspread. The pillows were plumped upright and stacked in a row at the wall of her bed. Shelves lined the walls near her work desk and bed filled with work books and various novels. Promo posters of Vishkar lined the opposite wall. Satya had rolled a large, oval-shaped rug on the floor, the rug patterned in various hues of blue in a spiral swirl. The large window opposite her bed had the curtains drawn aside and boasted of a high viewpoint of Vishkar ground and the surrounding favelas in the far distance. The view was so breathtaking and spectacular it’d make the most hardcore of tourists cry in jealousy.

After doing a onceover of her room, she took out her largest suitcase and began filling it with various clothes. Work clothes, casual wear, underwear, etc. Everything went in and was all folded and placed in neat rows. Next she filled her beauty and skincare products along with her makeup in a different compartment. She took out a travel bag and filled it with work pamphlets and her favorite novels. Tapping her chin in thought, she added some of her most prized items from her childhood since she saw she had the extra room for it. After the packing was finished, she clapped her hands in satisfaction and placed her luggage near the foot of her bed.

It was still morning and she’d already awoke, got dressed, and ate breakfast. It was time to work on her current assignment which was to construct prototype models of a prestige office building that would be implemented in China. Satya looked back at her room one last time. Silence filled the room was lit in a scorching pumpkin glow from the sun outside. With a resigned sigh, Satya finally turned and locked the door behind her. Her shoes clacked a lonely, hollow rhythm within the empty hallway as she made her way towards the nearest elevator.

                                                                                                            -

The next morning Lucio called Joana and Luis to set up an urgent meeting at the abandoned factory they always frequented to. Someone volunteered to bring their laptop to conduct a video chat with the Calado staff. They made sure they were talking in a secure, private channel so Vishkar wouldn’t be easily able to hack into their call if they found their call to be suspicious. There, members of Lucio’s cause and the people who volunteered from Calado Co. spent half the day discussing and planning their move for the rally. Lucio shouldn’t have been surprised to find the staff got caught up to stage fairly quickly when they had only joined in on the cause just the previous day.

Throughout the meeting, Lucio orchestrated and suggested strategies for both parties to consider. Both groups would then give their opinions and share suggestions they’d have that would make for a successful rally. Lucio mentioned that he’d created these prototype guns that healed and boosted the speed and agility of one’s movements.

“Sorry, I hadn’t thought Calado would be so willing to join our cause, I hope you don’t mind that only a select few of your members can have these guns to use during the rally,” Lucio said, sheepishly brushing his hand behind his head.

“Oh, it’s fine, we came to give our assistance at around the last minute,” Ivy assured Lucio, waving her hand dismissively.

“Plus, we need to find suitable members that think fast in dire situations and don’t mind handling firearms,” One of the company directors, Dan Malcolm, said.

The Calado staff discussed amongst themselves who would be interested and qualified in handling the guns.

“When do you suppose would be the opportune time in striking the protest and rally?” Dan asked.

“We’re thinking of possibly issuing the protest tomorrow in late afternoon,” Lucio said. “What do you think?”

“It isn’t a busy day tomorrow with the scheduling we already have planned, it’s perfect timing actually,” Dan said, nodding his head thoughtfully.

“Alright! I guess the date is set!” Lucio cheered, pumping his fist in the air. A few of the rebellion members copied the gesture.

“Is there anything we need to discuss further?” Ivy asked.

“I don’t think so, everything seems to be planned accordingly,” Lucio replied.

“Excellent, well, that concludes this meeting then,” Ivy said, smiling brightly.

“Wait! What should would be appropriate wear for the protest?” Alexandra said, waving her arm in the air in the back.

“Anything comfortable and easy to move in, nothing flashy that would draw anyone’s suspicion or attention,” Luiz said.

“Wear shoes in which you can run in and no jewelry or other accessories,” Joana added. “We had a close call during our last protest and it almost ended up badly, so yeah, nothing that can hold you down.”

Everyone in the meeting room nodded. “Thank you, that was very helpful.”

“It seems like everything is going accordingly, I bid you all a safe, good night,” Dan said.

The people present in the Calado meeting room waved and said their goodbyes and the line was cut off afterwards.

Lucio looked towards the large gathering of volunteers sitting behind him. He smiled broadly, hands on hips. “Well, everyone, there you have it! We’re all set!”

Everyone cheered and embraced one another. Not a few moments afterward, everyone got ready to go home. Lucio said good night to everyone and told them to hurry home before the curfew was set.

That night, Lucio dreamt of bursting neon green lights, flashing and flying across a blurred landscape. Shades of every color of the rainbow joined up with the green bolts, twirling amongst each other in a dance of harmony. On a faraway mountain top, a dazzling blue light lit the surface of a peak and was then snuffed by the ominous tendrils of smoky cumulous hands.

                                                                                                          -

The anticipation before a protest always brought a surge of adrenaline pulsing through Lucio’s veins. That morning, he dawned on a tank top with fitted armor beneath it, gloves that ran up towards his elbow, his specially-made lower full-bodied skates, and headgear. He took the sonic amplifier in his hands, plugging it to connect with his gloves and headphones. He slung the large bag filled with the other prototype guns atop his back and drew a sharp intake of air. He was ready.

He and his family shared a hearty two meals together before Lucio had to depart to head towards Vishkar Corporation. Everyone hugged him tightly, specifically Alana, fearing it’d be the last embrace they’d have from the rebel leader. They tried to stall but Lucio insisted he had to leave since he didn’t want to hold up everyone. They all bid him a tearful goodbye as he waved and hopped onto the family scooter.

                                                                                                        -

Satya got the message earlier that morning that she was to depart to Gibraltar for the transfer to one of the many hidden Overwatch watchpoints scattered across the globe. The architech felt a wave of sadness as she glanced over the sudden emptiness of her room. She knew it’d always be waiting for her whenever she got back but there was a feeling in the back of her mind that told her she might not ever return. No light was cast but the open windows lit the room in a strange, melancholy glow. Satya sighed. There was no use feeling sentimental now. She grabbed her luggage in both her hands and opened the door to leave. At the last minute she cast one last look into the calm, comforting abode she’d learned to call home. Turning away, she locked the door, hearing the access pad click.

                                                                                                      -

Lucio parked his scooter in a hidden corner of a back alley. He saw a large group of people gathered at the meeting point they’d agreed upon just a little ways from view of Vishkar Corporation from below the hill. Lucio found it amusing to see such professional businessmen and businesswomen wearing such casual clothing. But he knew from growing up that Calado Co. was different than the usual suits that tried to manipulate the neighboring favelas in the area before Vishkar Corporation landed their mark in their home.

“So, who are the people who are qualified and volunteered to handle the sonic amplifiers?” Lucio asked. A bunch of people raised their hands from the Calado group and Lucio quickly distributed the guns. He then handed off the remainder to his own members. He looked around towards everyone that had gathered so far. It was still obvious on who were from his original group and who were the ones that volunteered from Calado. But it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that they were united under one common goal: to rid the favelas of Vishkar Corporation once and for all.

Lucio could see that some people didn’t come yet. He guessed they either got scared from the pressure and decided to stay at home in the end or they just were running late. He wouldn’t blame them for the latter. This was dangerous volunteer work, after all. But on another note, some of the people from both conjoined groups brought people they knew who was interested in their cause. A feeling of gratification swelled within Lucio’s chest at the unspoken gesture.

As the late arrivals finally joined them, Lucio gathered everyone together in a tight-fitting circle.

“Everyone ready?” Lucio said in an encouraging tone.

Throughout the crowd, people either nodded or vocally confirmed.

Lucio let out a loud battle cry as people ran down the hill towards the city square where Vishkar Corporation was located.

Everyone formed in neat rows and those with the sonic amplifiers raised them in the air and let out a synchronized chorus of sound blasts.

“Vishkar! I want you to hear us loud and clear!” Lucio said after the encore of blasts ended.

Someone must have notified the main staff because the entrance doors opened not a moment after as the higher superiors exited the building one by one, body guards surrounding them with body armor and rifles in their arms. Others held microphones in their hands, ready to silence the crowd if need be.

“Your stay within our community has gone on for far too long,” Lucio said, raising his gun in the air. He beat out a rhythm of sound blasts into the cool, late afternoon air before lowering it towards his side. “It’s time for our people to take a stand and we demand you hear our voices.”

Lucio could see several of the body guards readying their guns for fire but one of the directors raised her hand for them to stop.

“I suspect we have a great misunderstanding within your group,” The woman said.

Lucio raised an eyebrow but kept quiet.

“Do you not see the goodness we’ve done for your community since we’ve established ourselves in Rio?” The woman said, raising her arms to emphasize her point. “We’ve done so much to help your people I am amazed you can’t see that.”

“I don’t know what your definition of ‘helping’ is, but we certainly have different ways on interpreting the word,” Lucio said. “I don’t think people often think of exploiting others for cheap labor, forced night curfews, and finding any reason to jailing or taking away individuals without showing a warrant as helping.”

Lucio saw the woman’s lips tighten slightly. “On what evidence do you have to show these attributes?”

“Plenty, just ask anyone gathered here right now, they’ll be glad to share their story with you,” Lucio said.

He made a motion with his hand and a friend of his mother’s, Sabrina, told the story of how her and her husband were paid below the minimum wage at their factory job ever since Vishkar moved in and took over the rights of the company they worked at. She listed off the awful conditions they had to work in, how they were often mistreated while working, and how almost no breaks were ever issued whenever someone hit their hourly limit to clock out for the hour.

Another man who Lucio knew was one of Theo’s friends, had spoken of his uncle getting taken away by Vishkar night guards because they suspected him of intercepting illegal materials while he had only gone out that night to buy groceries at the night market. His uncle hasn’t returned home since that night, and everyone is worried on what happened to him. A brother and sister spoke up on how after their parents had returned from an interrogation, they were always scared and in deep paranoia and their home life was crumbling because of the policies that were strictly enforced.

The woman crossed her arms. “I don’t believe you. I can only assume these are all lies that you all fabricated before gathering here.”

“You need more proof? I’ve got more proof,” Lucio said confidently, waving his arm towards the Calado staff that mingled behind him.

They stepped forward, their faces hard and mouths pressed into thin lines.

“I believe it hasn’t been too long for Vishkar to forget how they usurped control of the area near the favelas?” Dan said. “How do you think Vishkar took control when Calado was already in line to servicing the community, even as the director had declined their offer of help?”

Dan looked around towards his colleagues. “It was all an elaborate coup to get rid of us.”

“You may pretend to forget on what happened that night many years ago, but Vishkar had sent one of their agents to find material to blackmail us,” Ivy said.

“We’re still not sure of the details whether this agent had done this knowingly or if they were in the dark on what their exact mission was,” Ivy continued. “They had gotten some material on us. They planted explosives outside one of the main work stations and around several surrounding areas in Calado.”

“Many people died, I lost my uncle and father in the explosion,” Alexandra said. “My family is still recovering from this tragedy.”

“My aunt and brother were just leaving the premises when the explosion hit,” Dan said.

“My cousin and best friend were in the core of one of the underground labs and lost their lives that night,” Ivy said. “Do not even begin to tell me that all these recounts you are hearing now are a hoax, don’t you even _dare.”_

Many other members in the Calado group talked of their lost loved ones during that scorching tragedy.

“Aside from the people we’ve lost, much collateral damage was done to many of the surrounding buildings that Calado owned,” Dan said. “Due to this, we had to withdraw our support to the community and in our stead, Vishkar stepped in to take our place.”

“We have tried to get back the power we’ve lost but Vishkar always found some way to stray us away from getting back our long-standing position as a supporting company for those that reside in Rio.”

“It has taken much time after that tragedy but we are finally up on our feet,” Ivy said. “And we are here today to stand behind this protest and help those who have experienced loss and unjust actions against them as one.”

The woman crossed her arms. “While the stories and recounts are _lovely,_ you are standing amongst company ground and you are wasting our time.”

“This isn’t a waste of time,” Lucio said. “We are here to let you know why we are angry and frustrated with Vishkar, if you only listened it’ll be worth your while.”

“I will say this once and only once,” The woman said, her voice filled with sneers and confidence. “Take your worthless gathering off Vishkar ground or we will have to negotiate in more physical terms.”

The air was pungent with the smell of anticipated sweat, thick with tension, and electrified with silence as no one spoke or moved an inch from their spot.

Then, one single sound blast echoed across the premises and a guard towards the right end of the guard entourage collapsed to the ground. Lucio swung his head to find an old friend of his, Alef, hand trembling and eyes alight with fear just four persons away from him.

“Alef, what have you done?” Lucio said, his voice coated in disbelief.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking I thought the one guard was going to shoot us any second, he cocked the gun, I swore I heard it, Lucio, I’m sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…!” Alef spluttered.

An outbreak of earsplitting noise broke amongst both groups of people.

“Everyone! Only use the sonic amplifiers as a last minute resort! We charge, _now!”_ Lucio cried above the clash of roars and noises echoing in the air.

Everyone gathered in a tight group before storming through the glass doors of Vishkar.

Everything became a blur afterwards. Vishkar employees threw themselves at Lucio’s rebel group and they all tried their best to fend them off. Their goal was to find the control room. With a few hackers and programmers in their group, they would lock the doors and hack the company mainframe to find any evidence they could and release it to the public and have the police come to clean up the aftermath.

The company motto, to create order and harmony for the betterment of the future, was thrown out the window that day. Chaos was brewed to the rim and Lucio’s rebel group was making the mug that was Vishkar overflow with it.

After a mess of exploration of the main building, the entourage found the control room where the hackers and programmers set to work in infiltrating Vishkar’s system. Despite not notifying the police, a task force was issued by the surrounding commotion and phone calls they received. Realizing what was being done, the local police went to stop the commotion and give their hand to the rebels.

Not long after, the resources were collected and then deleted from the data bank and it was time for everyone to leave the premises before they could get caught.

“Everyone, we’ve done awesome so far, let’s do our best to get out of here!” Lucio said. Everyone followed his lead and they all split into three main groups to let the concept of being caught be all the harder if they were distracted in which group to take down.

Throughout the whole ordeal Lucio made sure to switch between the speed and healing switches on his gun. He tended to those with more serious injuries with the emergency kit he had in his backpack.

Things had gone well so far which made Lucio have a growing sense of suspicion. He wasn’t shocked when a huge round of armed guards appeared as they neared the exit.

“Could really use some help over here!” Alef cried to the left of the group.

“I got you!” Lucio said, skating towards Alef’s direction.

Two armed guards had him in a tussle.

“I can always count on you, my friend,” Alef said, relieved.

“We have to talk about before, Alef,” Lucio said.

“I know, I really messed up,” Alef agreed, shaking his head. “But I can always count on you having my back, right, Luc?”

Before Lucio could reply, Alef cried out in a fit of pain.

“Alef! What’s wrong?!” Lucio yelled, holding his friend as he nearly crumpled to the floor.

“Got a surprise hit to the back,” Alef said, his breaths quickening by the second. “Shouldn’t be anything too serious…”

Lucio immediately activated the healing beam towards Alef’s back but the man was still taking shallow breaths and Lucio in a panic took out the medical kit from his backpack. He took out the bullet, a strange large capsule-shaped thing with an empty vial fixed into it.

“You’re going to be ok, Alef, I promise,” Lucio said. Grabbing his friend and carrying him bridal-style.

The others formed a human shield around them as they finally made it the outside, the cool air from the now evening sky blowing a shrill breeze towards Lucio’s face.

“I-I can’t die like this, Lucio, I have so much to live for, my family needs me,” Alef said, his voice cracking and shaking. “M-my dream of being a pilot…”

“Ssshh, I’m here, Alef, just calm down,” Lucio said, almost not hearing his own voice. He felt like he was experiencing everything in slow motion, the world moved in a slowed cinematic montage, and time seemed to stop.

“Lucio, I need to ask you something,” Alef said, his voice so soft Lucio could barely hear.

“What is it?” Lucio said, his arms beginning to tremble.

“Was my life meaningful?” Alef asked, his breaths quickening again.

“Yes, it is,” Lucio replied, the edges of his eyes beginning to water.

“Was I useful within your group? Did I make a difference?” Alef asked.

“You did, every time we met for a meeting you always gave great suggestions, you also helped out a lot of people in your spare time too,” Lucio said.

“Was my life…short?” Alef said, his voice growing fainter each time he spoke.

“No, you always lived life to the fullest in my eyes,” Lucio said, cradling his friend closer towards his chest.

“Lucio…thank you...” Alef said, weakly grasping the rebel leader’s left hand. “Thank you. You are a true…friend…”

“Alef, no, Alef, stay with me, buddy,” Lucio said. “Alef? _Alef?!_ ”

Everyone surrounded Lucio and this only made Lucio feel worse.

Choruses of ‘What’s going on?’, ‘What’s wrong?’, and ‘Is everything ok?!’ circulated amongst those that made it out the doors of Vishkar.

The sky was a sharp scarlet as the sun began to dip slowly behind the mountains. The remainder of sunlight that cast down below was harsh as Lucio collapsed on weakened knees to the stone walkways just outside of the Vishkar entrance.

The police sirens and bright neon lights of their vehicles were a faint memory as Lucio felt hot tears stream down his face as he slowly, with trembling hands, held his dear friend close.

                                                                                                      -

A celebration was held in Lucio’s neighborhood that night. A communal feast was held in the small, neighborhood square but Lucio didn’t partake in any of the nightly festivities. He brought Alef to the hospital where he asked what had happened to him that caused his death. While the nearby hospital was heavily underfunded, their doctors and staff were brilliant and excellent.

From the single bullet that got lodged from his back, there was a lethal serum implanted within the bullet. Once the bullet went through the skin, the serum was released and immediately distributed itself throughout Alef’s body shutting down his vitals in a startlingly short amount of time. The doctors and scientists were sure to let Lucio know the workings of the bullet as they conducted further research on the said single cartridge.

Lucio thanked them and the medical staff sent their condolences and told Lucio on how amazing he was in how he led the rebellion.

As Lucio left, the man swept his forehead, breathing a shallow breath as his chest wracked with loss and indescribable pain. How was he going to let Alef’s family know about this? Would they hate him for leading their son to his death?

                                                                                                        **-**

The ordeal was stifling when Lucio approached their home the next morning. While others celebrated and reveled in the festivities from the night before, Lucio had laid in bed, fretting, worrying, and feeling terrible. His family tried to comfort him but Lucio couldn’t bring himself to take the praise. They had lost nine other people aside from Alef. Some would say that it was only logical they’d lose people from such a cause. Sacrificing lives was what led to things to change for the better, wasn’t it? Lucio couldn’t believe in that sort of ideology. No matter the cost, it was paramount to have everyone be safe and sound during any sort of organization. If it could’ve been prevented, then actions should’ve been done to save the person, no matter the cost. Lucio felt he’d failed as a rally leader.

Lucio was surprised to not be met with unbridled rage as he slowly told the news to his family. His mother broke down crying and his father lowered his head in silent resignation as tears began to form in his eyes. His sisters trembled and hugged themselves close to one another.

When Lucio apologized, they didn’t tell him it was his fault. He wished they would. It would’ve been better than the reaction he gave them. They smiled, took his hand and shook strongly as they gazed into his eyes. Loss was apparent in his mother’s eyes but she smiled despite the sadness that pooled in her orbs.

“Lucio, thank you for showing my son to live his life righteously,” His mother said. “You were always a positive influence in his life, I think if you weren’t there to help him become who he was, he would’ve turned out to be a completely different person.”

“Your cause, it has helped us out so much, now we are closer to being free of Vishkar thanks to you and your group,” His father said, nodding.

“Don’t blame yourself, it’s not your fault you tried your best to help him and we cannot be any happier for your efforts,” His mother said, shaking his hands comfortingly.

Lucio’s eyes began to water. “It _is_ my fault. How can you be so accepting of this?”

His mother and father smiled. “There are no words to describe the sadness we feel. We know our son died in a just cause, we will miss him but in time we must move on.”

“I don’t understand!” Lucio fell to his knees cradling his head. “You’re too calm! You should be mad at me, mad at the events that transpired, mad at everything that has happened!”

Alef's parents bent and embraced Lucio as the fresh tears fell from his eyelids. The sisters came to join the hug as well and Lucio was overwhelmed by the amount of emotions he felt: loss, deep sadness, anger, frustration, and a strange sense of love. He didn’t deserve it.

                                                                                                          **-**

Satya boarded the transfer car that would take her to the small private airport that would then send her off on a private helicopter towards Gibraltar. She carefully arranged her luggage to her right in view and fastened her seatbelt.

“Are we ready for departure, Ms. Vaswani?” the driver asked.

“Yes, I’m ready,” Satya replied, folding her hands delicately in her lap.

They sat in silence as the driver started the engine. Satya idly watched the scenery pass by in a blur, a strange feeling of uneasiness growing in her chest. She guessed it was just anxiety before an overseas business deal was conducted.

Satya heard the faint blip of a ringtone from within her purse. She pulled out her phone and answered it. “Hello?”

“Satya! It’s a good thing you left when you did because it’s utter _chaos_ here!” Sanjay said on the other line. She could hear commotion and noises in the background.

“What is going on? Are you safe?” Satya asked, panic raising in her voice.

“I-I’m fine! We’ve got a rebel group infiltrating through the front of our main building! It’s crazy!” Sanjay said. “I know it’s pretty selfish of me to say, but it’d be nice if you were here right now, we could really use your help back here if you didn’t have to go through with the temporary job transfer!” 

“No, no, it’s fine, just, stay in a safe place and just call for help, I’m sure backup will come immediately to mediate the situation,” Satya said, clutching the phone tightly in both hands.

“I should go, who knows if they could be hearing this conversation somehow,” Sanjay said, his voice lowering to a whisper. “Stay safe, Satya! Hope your transfer goes well, call me whenever you arrive at their base!”

The line immediately got cut off and Satya stared at the screen for several minutes, helpless into what she should do next.

“Should we turn back? I’m sure I could be of assistance if Vishkar is experiencing difficulty,” Satya said.

“Ms. Vaswani, you know that’s too dangerous,” the driver said, shaking his head. “It’s best we stay on the road before the rebels get a fresh idea to go after us as well.”

“…I suppose you’re right,” Satya said unsurely.

She clutched her hands tightly until the muscles ached.

“I know what you’re thinking, but it’s for the best,” The driver assured her. “It will definitely be safer for both you and the company. After all, one of Vishkar’s most valued, bright architechs is going to help with the future projects in advancing Vishkar’s hold in improving the world, it is imperative we keep you safe.”

Satya nodded wordlessly.

She looked out the window once more, seeing a glimpse of the chaos that was being reaped upon by the dastardly rebels. The cool, turquoise glow of the main building was marred with the red, blue, and silver lights from various police cars. She looked helplessly at the view before the mountains blocked her from seeing any further.

Satya turned away, closing her eyes slowly. She knew deep down it wasn’t her fault, but somehow she still felt that she had failed Vishkar from being away from them in their most dire need.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First and foremost, I'm really, really sorry for the long absence! School completely dominated my entire being all this time. Now with school out of the way, I have lots of time to write now, woo! Hope you enjoy this extra long chapter, I poured a lot of hard work into it. This was probably the most un-enjoyable chapter to work on just because there was just so many things I wanted to cover here for backstory and plot. Get ready for a certain special someone making their debut in the next chapter, I have been dying to write this next chapter for ages and now I can finally work on it since I pumped this current one out! *pumps chest* I hope you all enjoy it and please let me know what you think! Can't wait for the holidays to start, woohoo! \ ^ O ^ /


	7. When Two Unstoppable Forces Collide

_The rebellion that night wasn’t the last one that Lucio conducted. Throughout the rest of the month, nonstop, there would be rallies and protests held around or directly at the center lobby of Vishkar Corporation. Lucio would also channel inspirational music from his sonic amplifier to encourage others and at times they would chant the lyrics before rallies would officially begin. Each time the company would try to find a new way to shut down the rebels but to no avail. Word spread and people from surroundings areas and neighborhoods eventually joined Lucio and his cause. Each week a new gathering was organized by Lucio, his friends, and close group members. Every other meeting Calado Co. would lend their assistance, as well._

_Because of the data that was found and leaked by the rebel hackers and programmers, a wide online following was created and people shared their thoughts on multiple forums and chatrooms, garnering international support from around the world. Eventually this led to the Brazilian government to be notified of Vishkar’s manipulation of the surrounding populace. Legal documents were stamped to officially rid of the favelas of Vishkar once and for all. The day the multinational company emptied themselves on the streets towards the airport in droves, crowds equally jeered and cheered at the sight, the Vishkar heads ducking their heads seemingly in embarrassment and shame as they gathered into their vehicles. A parade of sleek, shiny cars made their way slowly towards the crowded highway, their tails tucked in like guilty dogs._

_After countless celebrations throughout the favelas, peace didn’t come right away with Lucio. Aside from gaining praise and recognition for his efforts of kicking Vishkar from his neighborhood, Lucio’s music became top hits on an international level seemingly overnight. The custom website where Lucio hosted samples and had existing tracks on sale crashed multiple times due to people scrambling to buy his music. To Lucio’s surprise, a record company asked if they could help start his music career over a phone call. Lucio immediately agreed and he got to working on the finishing touches of the album he’d tweaked throughout the year. With negotiations from the record company and help from his family and friends, he was on his way to having his debut world tour in just a few weeks…_

_-_

The night life of King’s Row was beautiful. The lights, the constant, fervent buzz of chatter along the streets, and people bustling to and fro to where ever they need to be with an excited aura emanating about them. What made it more particularly spectacular was Lucio’s debut concert, titled _Synaesthesia Auditiva_ from the album’s name, was being hosted at one of King's Row's public stadiums. Lena Oxton, aka _Tracer_ from her official moniker in her pre-fall Overwatch days, had begged Winston to let her have the week off so she could head back to her hometown to see Lucio’s concert. Winston eventually relented and Lena had pumped and gave a celebratory yell to the scientist finally giving in. Now here she was, donned in an orange shirt with Lucio’s signature frog logo, holding glow sticks, matching the light effects playing off on the stage where Lucio was performing. 

Aside from the shirt, Lena left her orange goggles at her hotel room, had on black skinny jeans and matching checkered Converse sneakers. Winston had created several smaller, modified chronal accelerators ages ago for convenience's sake, one of which donned her right hand with the innocent image of a silver wristwatch.

Someone tapped her shoulder and Lena turned to them. A tall, older omnic donning a dark forest green shirt stood to Lena’s right, holding several glow sticks in his hands.

“’Beg your pardon but you have the most uncanny appearance of looking like that Tracer chick from Overwatch, you know that?” He said, quirking a confused eyebrow.

Tracer let out a laugh and replied, “Oh, I get that a lot, I guess it must be the hair, yeah?”

She then patted said strands and smiled.

“How are you taking this concert?” The omnic asked.

“I love it! The effects are fantastic!” Lena said, jumping up to point her glow sticks at the stage.

“Lucio is incredible, glad I snagged his tickets when I could,” The omnic agreed with a nod. "I'm glad he's standing behind the cause for us to gain our rights. His support means so much to me, no words can describe how grateful I am to what he's doing to help."

Tracer grinned as the omnic smiled at her shyly. "Me too."

“Get ready for the next song!” Lena said, throwing both arms in the air as the omnic joined her in a readying dance as they waited for the upcoming track to play.

The lights changed on stage, illuminating a sharp silver and neon green light combo dancing towards the crowd. Lena thought it was amazing how Lucio’s turntable discs seemed as if they were just floating in the air. The tech he must be using to support the discs must be really state-of-the-art stuff, she guessed.

“Oh my gosh! This is one of my favorites!” Lena cried, changing the colors of her glow sticks as ‘We Move Together as One’ began to play. Even with the the turbulence of omnic rights still being up for debate in King's Row, Lena was astounded that Lucio's music could help spread his message in bringing together both human and omnic alike.

                                                                                                       -

“Alright, everyone! Thanks for coming to my debut concert, _Synaesthesia Auditiva_! I wouldn’t have made it here today if it weren’t for all the wonderful support from you fans!” Lucio exclaimed brightly into the mic.

Everyone from the crowd gave a big cheer as Lucio came down from the stage to brush fingers and give high-fives to people in the crowd.

“Don’t forget to come to the meet-and-greet afterwards at ten to tell me your thoughts on my music, get autographs, and just chill!” Lucio said with the mic in tow as he finished the last of the five-highs.

Volunteers helped to guide the people towards the exit and a few stragglers tried to linger before getting ushered away by body guards.

“Hey, is that who I think it is?” Lucio called from the back.

Lena turned, thinking she’d be able to catch a glimpse at Lucio meeting up with a hip celebrity but he was pointing towards her direction instead.

“ _Me?”_ she mouthed, pointing to herself, confused.

Lucio excitedly nodded and beckoned her over his hand.

Lena basically skipped back towards where she was before, her heart thumping wildly from the adrenaline coursing through her veins.

Trying to ignore the stares she got, Lena giddily grinned. “The one and only! T-Racer! Well, ignore the fact I don’t have the proper costume on!”

“I can’t believe it! Tracer? At _my_ concert?!” Lucio said, pointing towards Lena enthusiastically.

“No need to be so humble, the concert was _amazing,_ Lucio!” Lena exclaimed. “And call me Lena!”

“Aww, thanks, I put my all into it,” Lucio said, rubbing the back of his neck bashfully.

“And it really shows!” Lena said.

Lucio waved his hand dismissively. “You flatter me.”

“So, do you got any plans after this?” Lena asked.

“I actually don’t, I was going to just rest backstage before the meet-and-greet,” Lucio said. “Why?”

“What do you say we hit the pub later? I know of a great place,” Lena said, pointing towards a general direction behind her, hip cocked towards the side at ready.

“Sure, why not? Sounds great!” Lucio agreed.

“Here, lemme write down the directions for ya,” Lena said, taking out a scrap of paper and pen from her pocket and beginning to scribble furiously.

“Also, hopefully this doesn’t sound _too_ direct, but maybe we can discuss if you’d like to have a future with Overwatch?” Lena said, her tone hopeful.

“Overwatch?” Lucio said, brows raised in confusion.

“Long story, we can talk about it at the pub,” Lena said, shaking her head quickly.

“Right, sure,” Lucio said, smiling.

“Also, take me card, it’s old but still really cool-looking, yeah?” Lena said offhandedly, handing him said card from another pants pocket.

The card was made of holographic fibers, playing and replaying the image of Lena and other old Overwatch agents standing in uniform giving a salute towards the Overwatch insignia flying overhead on a billowing flag. The background was a blue backdrop of a bright, clear sky dotted with wispy clouds and the glowing sun in the distance.

“Winston made it, he did a right job about it, too,” Lena said puffing her chest proudly in regards of this Winston person.

“He did, it looks really cool!” Lucio said, turning over the card and looking to see the Overwatch insignia with the organization’s old contact info and the address for the now-dissolved HQ building.

“Well, see you in a bit, Lucio! It was an honor meeting you!” Lena said. “Hopefully it’s not presumptuous to say, but you’re exactly what Overwatch needs!”

 “Aww, you’re really being too kind, Lena,” Lucio said. “See you soon!”

Lena wordlessly waved and ran towards the direction of the pub they agreed to meet at.

Lucio looked at the scrap of paper Lena had given him. The directions written were towards a place called ‘The Ascalon Club’.

 _“The world could always use more heroes,”_ Lucio could hear Lena’s voice in his head, saying her famous call-sign as he looked over the holographic business card again.

Lucio went back in the direction of the stadium’s backstage to change into more comfortable clothes.

He smiled softly, pocketing both cards. “Yeah, the world could.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter to even out the long chapter from before! Hopefully it's not too short. And here we have it, Tracer! I was excited to write this chapter for the longest time. Hopefully I didn't butcher Tracer's accent too badly, I tried my best not to make it too stereotypically British. When the two of them meet at the pub they mostly talk about Lucio's music, Lucio possibly joining Overwatch, and them having a slight fight over whether to call french fries 'chips' or 'fries'. Hope you guys enjoy the chapter and please let me know what you think of it, thanks! I wish you all a great rest of your day! :>


	8. The Clashing of Two Worlds

“We’ve arrived at our destination,” the pilot said to Satya. “Prepare for landing.”

The helicopter landed carefully on the marked spot for air vehicles.

Satya gathered her things and carefully hopped off the helicopter. She looked around as she swung her luggage from her arms. The area was surrounded by rocky terrain with moss growing in uneven outcrops across the surface of Gibraltar. The sky was a bright, sapphire blue, a clear day with not a wisp of clouds seen anywhere. Across to the right of the cliffs, there were the licking waves of the ocean below. The water was a deep azure, the surface reflecting as if there were a million jewels winking from beneath the waves. When Satya shaded her eyes with an outstretched hand, she could see ant-sized boats and ships sailing in the distance, nets cast to reel in fish by the dozens.

“I see you’re taking in the scenery, beautiful, isn’t it?” The pilot said, smiling from his perch.

“It’s breathtaking,” Satya replied, her eyes still drinking in the sights before her.

“Well, I’m sure they have a nice welcome party inside waiting for you,” The pilot said. “Take care, Miss Vaswani, it was a pleasure meeting you!”

“Same to you,” Satya said, smiling faintly.

The man waved and closed the door and began to start the helicopter up again. As it began to levitate in the air, the winds billowed from the force of its propellers, whipping Satya’s hair wildly across her face.

Satya waved and turned as she heard footsteps approaching from behind.

Her eyes widened as she saw a large gorilla, donning spectacles and what appeared to be a helmet-less space suit, hobble towards her.

“I’m sorry if my appearance shocks you, most people seem to react this way when they first see me,” The gorilla said in a sheepish tone. “My name is Winston. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you Ms. Vaswani.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you as well,” Satya finally replied. “And please, Satya is fine.”

“Alright, I’ll be your tour guide as I show you around Watchpoint Gibraltar,” Winston said, turning and smiling towards her. “Welcome to Overwatch.”

Satya nodded and shifted her weight on her luggage.

“Would you let me carry some of your bags?” Winston asked.

“Thank you, that’s very kind of you,” Satya said, handing over three of the larger suitcases from her grasp.

Satya followed Winston as he brought her into a hangar. A large airship sat on a large structure by the ceiling and large metal crates littered the area.

“Here’s the main hangar where we keep our dropships for future mission use,” Winston said, pointing towards said ship from above. “It’s a bit crowded here with all the supplies so please pardon the mess.”

“I am a very big fan of your work, Satya,” Winston said. “I especially loved the architecture project you were a part of in Peru, fascinating stuff.”

“Thank you, that means a lot to me,” Satya said, her chest feeling warm from the compliment.

“I’m very happy you decided to join us, I have a very good feeling your skills and talent will help us out a lot in later missions,” Winston said.

“I’ll do my best,” Satya said confidently.

Winston brought her around to show her various essential areas: the workout area, his office, the cafeteria and currently en route they were headed towards the infirmary.

“You may think this is silly, but it’s very important that if you ever feel unwell by any means, please do drop by Dr. Ziegler’s office so she can give you a good checking to,” Winston said.

“Dr. Ziegler?” Satya said with surprise.

They headed into an office area and a woman in a lab coat sat scribbling fervently on several documents.

“Angela, the new recruit is here,” Winston said.

“Oh!” The woman said abruptly. She scrambled from her seat and dusted off her clothes hastily. She had on black-framed glasses, a simple blouse and black skirt, the outfit obscured by the large lab coat shrugged over her shoulders, and simple ballet flats.

“Oh, you must be Satya Vaswani! It’s wonderful to finally meet you!” The woman, Angela, said cheerily.

She went over to Satya and immediately shook both hands warmly.

“And you must be Angela Ziegler, it’s an honor to meet you,” Satya said, reciprocating the shake.

“I assume you’ve heard of my work?” Angela said, smiling.

“Of course, your work is known internationally as it should,” Satya said frankly.

Angela brushed a few strands of hair that had fallen from her ponytail shyly. “T-thank you, I do my best to help those in need.”

“Well, if you ever need me, I’ll be doing most of my work here,” Angela said, motioning towards the office and the connected infirmary towards the right.

Satya nodded. “Well, I better not keep you, I can see you’re very busy.”

Angela made a dismissive gesture with her hand. “Not at all, I am glad to have finally been formally introduced to you, Satya. See you around for dinner!”

And with that, Angela sat herself back down and began to go back to writing from the mess of papers atop her desk.

“Well, now let’s get a look at your new quarters, yes?” Winston said.

“Lead the way,” Satya said.

Winston made an affirmative noise and quickly led her towards the housing area of the watchpoint.

The barracks was similar to how hangar was built. A metal-made building connected towards the left of the main junction of the watchpoint. Winston padded through a blue-lit hallway and presented her towards a door to the right.

“This will be your assigned room, I hope it accommodates to your needs,” Winston said.

He punched in a passcode on the code panel. “The default password is ‘Gibraltar’, but you can set it up to be whatever you like or go for the hand print scan, as well.”

“And there you go!” Winston said as the mechanical door slid open. Satya peered inside before stepping into the room. Winston followed her after she went through the threshold. The room was simple and basic in design. There was a bed with a plain white pillow set, with a matching comforter and bedsheet adorned atop it. There was a window above the desk that overlooked a high view of the b sky from outside. A desk and chair with two shelves on either side of the room, one tall and large in size and one smaller and shorter.

“What do you think of your new room?” Winston asked.

“It’s decent, I think I might have to do some redecorating though,” Satya said.

“You can see fit to customize your room however you please, anything to make it feel like home,” Winston said.

The gorilla turned and began to hobble out the room. “We’re going to have dinner at around six.”            

“We used to have machines handle the meals and cleaning around here, but because of how we’re short on funds at present, we just started cooking our own meals by hand,” Winston explained.

“It’s my turn to make dinner tonight!” A tall, brown-haired woman said pointing towards herself to the side.

“Make sure you have Angela look over you in the kitchen, we don’t want a repeat of what happened last week, Lena,” Winston said.

“Aww, come on, the meatloaf didn’t turn out _too_ badly it was only half-burnt,” The woman, Lena, said sheepishly.

Winston shook his head as he pinched his forehead. “Just ask her to come to the kitchens with you, anyways.”

“Excuse me, Satya, but this is Lena Oxton, aka Tracer,” Winston said, gesturing towards the woman in goggles.

“Nice to meet ya, are you the new recruit?” Lena said, thrusting her hand towards Satya.

“Yes, I am, Satya Vaswani, a pleasure,” Satya replied, taking Lena’s hand and shaking it.

“ _The_ Satya Vaswani?! Winston, how’d you manage to snag a gem like her here?!” Lena said turning towards the scientist in shock.

“I had a private meeting with Vishkar and Satya simply agreed to the proposal we inducted and here we are,” Winston explained nonchalantly.

“You’re amazing as usual, big guy!” Lena exclaimed.

She turned towards Satya. “I’m a big fan! Your work is amazing, Satya! Is it alright if I call ya Satya?”

“Thank you, and yes, you may,” Satya said, smiling slightly.

“Well, we’ll leave you to getting settled in, call us if you need anything,” Winston said, dragging away a chattering Lena by his side.

Satya closed the door and sighed as she stood gazing towards the window by the end of the room. She then sat heavily on her bed, feeling her mind and body ache slightly. It was mid-afternoon, the sun dipping slightly towards the right of the sky. The room was cast in bright sunlight, illuminating the blue walls of the room in a comforting glow. It all felt like a strange dream, actually being at the watchpoint that was settled upon a large rock surrounded by endless ocean. With all the interaction, Satya felt drained. A nap wouldn’t hurt, she thought. She took off her shoes and settled them right below her bed as she fell into a heavy sleep before she managed to pull the covers over herself.

"…wani? Agent Vaswani?” A tuned, female voice called.

“…Yes?” Satya answered groggily.

“Winston and the others decided to call you if you wanted to join them for dinner,” The voice said in an urgent tone. “I’m sorry if I startled you from your nap, I’m Athena, the AI system that serves as an announcer and assistant to the members of Overwatch.”

“Please tell me them I will be with them shortly, I need to get ready first,” Satya said, half-processing what the female voice had just said.

“Of course, I’ll deliver your message right away,” Athena said. A glow that emitted from a desk console slowly turned off.

Satya fluffed her hair behind her shoulders and quickly put on her shoes. She dusted off her clothes and quickly left her room towards the direction of the cafeteria.

She quickly found a seat and looked around the crowded dining table. Two men she didn’t recognize sat amongst them, one similar to the likes of a giant and one comically much smaller than the other, both sporting thick beards.

Winston introduced them to being Reinhardt, the giant, and Torbjorn, the smaller of the two. Reinhardt gave a hearty welcome to Satya while Torbjorn raised his claw-like prosthetic in what the architech assumed was a wave.

Lena and Angela came from the kitchens, carrying two trays filled with food. There were smudges smeared across Lena’s face and splashes of sauce had dotted her apron.

“Angela helped me make a Shepherd’s pie! Dig in, everyone!” Lena said, jutting her hands proudly atop her hips.

“It was quite a bit of work, but we managed to make a successful pie,” Angela said, sounding relieved.

She and Lena took turns slicing the pie for everyone and Satya looked down, inspecting said sliced pie on her plate.

The Shepherd’s pie had a crisp, upper top, the crust a nice golden brown. When she brought her fork down to cut the slice, the filling oozed out, a rich, delicious scent following as its contents spilled onto the plate. Seasoned lamb, carrots, peas, sautéed onions, and corn was included in the filling. Satya took a small bite and was surprised to find how rich the pie tasted.

“This is quite nice,” She commented.

“Thanks, love! I did my best!” Lena said with a grin.

“I think you still need more lessons on cooking, Lena, but you are greatly improving,” Angela said, taking a bite of pie.

“Much better from than the meatloaf from last week,” Torbjorn said.

Everyone gave their compliments to both chefs.

Reinhardt and Torbjorn helped Angela with the dishes afterwards while everyone else cleared the table.

“What did you think of your first dinner on the watchpoint, Satya?” Angela asked after everything was cleaned.

“It was quite refreshing, if I must say,” Satya said.

Angela smiled gently. “Well, I hope the watchpoint will feel like home to you soon, we’re very happy that you’ve joined us.”

Satya was speechless so she merely nodded in reply.

“Well, good night, everyone, I think I will turn in for the night,” Satya said.

The remainder of the people left said their good nights and headed back towards their quarters.

Satya began grabbing materials to take to the communal bath to begin her nightly rituals. With towel and bath supplies at ready, she heads to the area. The room is split into two separate areas, one for males and one for females. At the center is an area lined up with sinks. Each sink includes a mirror hanging right above it. Satya heads to one of the last stalls by the end of the room. She set down her bath supplies and began to undress for the shower.

She made sure one last time that her body wash and shampoo was ready by her side. There was an area in the stall where you could sit just a few inches away from the showerhead. Satya turned the knob to release the water. She waited for the water to warm. Steam began to unfurl as heat spread throughout the shower stall. Satya finally sat herself down and breathed in the steam-filled air. This was just the thing to calm herself down from her eventful first day on the Watchpoint. The water felt wonderful upon her skin, Satya idly watching the droplets fall upon her skin as she raised to closely inspect her hand. She decided that her nails could use a fresh coat of paint, seeing as the center and edged areas were already chipping away.

She sighed again, looking towards the ceiling. _“It will take some getting used to before I get myself settled here.”_

Satya turned to her right to grab some body wash and the stall soon smelled sweetly of lilacs, oranges, and French vanilla.

                                                                                                          -

The next morning Satya headed towards the workroom that was assigned to her. She went over to the desk and found a small folded card that said ‘Welcome to Overwatch, Satya!’ at the right end of the card were two doodles of Lena and Winston’s heads smiling. Satya couldn’t help but also smile at the gesture. She heard the panel doors swish open and see Torbjorn hobble in.

He turned towards Satya in surprise. “Oh, Satya, I didn’t think you’d be here this early.”

“Of course, I get up around this time almost every morning,” Satya replied curtly.

“Heh, good habit to keep,” the man said.

Satya tried not to dwell too deeply on the lack of the man’s height but it was something that kept coming to the front of her mind. She peered over to Torbjorn, who was already busy inspecting some clockwork gears at his table. Now paying more attention to the kind of tech he built and fixed, Satya couldn’t help but think to herself how outdated his equipment was. The rest of the morning went by uneventfully with them breaking the silence every once in a while with some small-talk.

When Satya finally peered up from her work, she realized how orange the light spilling into the room was. She looked outside to the window to the right of the workroom and saw the sun high in the center of the sky. She guessed it must be about noon. Her stomach grumbled and she put her hand upon her abdomen as if it could quell the noises any better.

She could hear Torbjorn chuckle across the room and Satya’s face immediately heated. “Guess it’s about time for lunch, eh?”

“I suppose it is,” Satya replied, pulling herself up from her seat.

The two of them head out together towards the hallway.

“Who do you think is in charge of lunch today?” Satya asked.

Torbjorn tapped his beard. “Mm, if I had to guess, possibly Angela? She’s a safe bet when it comes to cooked meals. Cooks pretty well, if I do say so myself.”

Satya simply nodded.

As they finally entered the kitchen/dining area, they were surprised to see Winston putting the finishing touches to his dish within a cooking pan.

“Oh, hi, you guys! Lunch is about done!” Winston called cheerily with a wave.

“Would you like some help?” Satya asked.

“No, no, we’re good! Thanks for asking though!” Winston replied.

“Well, if you say so,” Satya said uncertainly.

She sat herself down, feeling slightly antsy. She thought maybe she could help set the table but upon looking down, the table had already been ready with placemats, glasses, utensils and a box of tissues sitting at the center.

Eventually everyone trickled in to sit at the dining table. The last one to arrive was Reinhardt whose presence was known by how heavy his footfalls rocked the room when he finally entered.

“Sorry for arriving so late, everyone!” Reinhardt said. “I barely had time to get changed when Athena told me lunch was almost ready.”

Satya looked over to the giant of a man, who was wearing a large gray sweatshirt along with matching sweatpants and orange and white sneakers. Satya wondered how on earth he could find anything in his size by how large Reinhardt was in body and height.

“If we were on the battlefield it’d be a different story, heh,” Torbjorn commented.

“Ah, but we aren’t! So there is no need to worry and there is no need for rushing,” Reinhardt replied, holding up his pointer finger.

Winston, Angela, and Lena finally arrived with dishes in hand.

“Sorry, everyone! Hopefully we didn’t take too long!” Winston said sheepishly.

“No, friend! You are fine!” Reinhardt said.

“Well, today I decided to do a twist on mac and cheese. Since the area is rich with fish and seafood I decided to add shrimp and lobster to the dish, I hope you all enjoy it!” Winston said, putting down the dish tray.

“I made lemonade!” Lena said. She carefully put down a pitcher of the drink on the table, looking utterly proud of herself.

“Winston and me made peanut butter cookies,” Angela said, putting down a tray of the steaming sweets.

“Angela did most of the work, I mostly assisted with helping out,” Winston said.

“Oh, don’t be so humble! You helped a lot, Winston,” Angela exclaimed.

“I-if you say so, thank you,” Winston replied shyly, scratching behind his ear.

“We all pitched in with the banana strawberry fruit salad, as well,” Lena said. “Well, that’s all there is.”

Reinhardt clapped his hands loudly. “Let us eat, everyone!”

Winston’s seafood mac and cheese smelled wonderful. As Satya took a bite, she was surprised at how creamy it was. A burst of lobster, shrimp, various herbs, and heavy cream danced across Satya’s tongue. Next she tried the fruit salad, which was as colorful as the gaudy costumes of circus clowns. There were sliced strawberries, bananas, mangos, and honeyed pecans in the dish. The salad was very sweet and flavorful, with a hint of lemon mixed into it. After finishing both main entrée and side dish, Satya ate some of the cookies. They were very soft and melted in one’s mouth. They were rich in taste and the combination of peanut butter and chocolate were a mix in heaven. Satya absently wondered when they’d assign her to cook a meal for all the agents.

“I bet you used the instant powdered stuff to make lemonade,” Torbjorn said as he took a gulp of lemonade.

“I did not!” Lena retorted. “It was made from fresh lemons we bought from downtown a week ago!”

“Even if it was made from instant powder, it would probably taste good too,” Satya said.

Torbjorn howled with laughter as Lena turned towards Satya with an unreadable look. Satya didn’t understand why Torbjorn was laughing at her nor why Lena looked at her so strangely.

“Haha, thanks, Satya,” Lena finally said. “You enjoying your meal?”

“Yes, everything was splendid,” Satya replied.

“Aww, you flatter too much!” Lena said, elbowing Satya playfully.

When Lena looked away, Satya quickly brushed her arm.

Sharing a meal with other people wasn’t something she was really used to, so Satya felt just a bit suffocated. But hopefully, she thought, she would get used to it soon. She’d been a bit skeptical with the meals being assigned to different people each day, but with the cooking expertise she’d seen so far, she felt quite confident everything would be fine. Perhaps as time passed, all the things that these people already called normal, she could get accustomed to, too.

Later, Satya sought out Winston in his office.

“Winston?” Satya called from the threshold.

“Oh, Satya, is that you?” The scientist said as he gathered his glasses from his desk.

“Yes, it is,” Satya replied.

“Did you need something?” Winston asked, smiling.

“No, I just wanted to ask you a question,” Satya said.

“Well, shoot away,” Winston said.

“I was wondering when we would be deployed for the upcoming mission?” Satya asked.

“Hmm, well, we’re currently waiting on the answer of a potential agent’s reply at the moment,” Winston said, scratching his chin.

“And who might that be?” Satya asked.

“Well, I’m actually not quite sure myself, Lena wouldn’t tell me, said she’d let me know when the person gives their answer,” Winston replied.

“That’s…quite vague,” Satya said.

“Yeah, Lena can be a bit strange with her recruitment tactics,” Winston said. “Currently I’m holding off any ‘official’ dates at the moment, but once we get the agent’s reply, we’ll all begin making preparations in getting ready for the first mission.”

“I see, alright then,” Satya said, folding her hands at the front of her dress.

“I hope that was a good, sufficient answer to your question?” Winston asked hesitantly.

“Yes, it was, thank you, Winston,” Satya said. “I’ll see you later then.”

“Don’t hesitate to talk to me if you have any other questions,” Winston said.

“I’ll be sure to come by right away if I run into any questions or problems,” Satya assured him.

She waved goodbye and left his office.

                                                                                                             -

_A few months later…_

It was a long process, but eventually Lucio made a deal with his managers and producers that he would be able to join Overwatch. It was going to be a part-time sort of deal, where Lucio could still retain some freedom with his soaring music career. After his first initial world tour, Lucio was ready to give a proper goodbye to his family before heading off to Gibraltar.

When Lucio arrived at his family home’s doorstep, he was immediately greeted by everyone in a suffocating bear hug.

“Lucio! We missed you so much!” Milena cried, gripping her older brother’s calf.

“I missed you guys, too,” Lucio said with a smile.

“How did your tour go?” Alana asked.

“It went amazingly well! There were a few problems here and there but it’s all good!” Lucio replied.

“Good, good,” Alana said, nodding.

“Any news?” Fernando asked.

“I actually do! This is classified information, so I hope you guys know how to keep a secret,” Lucio said, leaning in a conspiratorial manner.

Theo’s eyebrow arched. “What do you mean?”

“Guess who got a position to work in Overwatch!” Lucio whisper-yelled.

“What? Hadn’t that organization been dispelled years ago?” Theo asked, confusion laced in his tone.

“Well, they’re kinda under wraps right now, and their poster girl, Tracer, got in touch with me while I was at King’s Row,” Lucio explained.

“Oh wow! How exciting!” Natalia said, clasping her hands.

“Are you going to be a hero now, Lucio?” Lucca asked. “’Cause I remembered that lots of people called those guys ‘heroes’.”

Lucio ruffled his little brother’s hair. “You think I’m a hero, Lucca?”

Lucca’s eyes widened. “Yeah, of course! You and your group saved Rio!”

“Plus you’re super cool already!” Milena chimed in. “You were already our hero!”

“You guys are the best,” Lucio said, bringing in the twins in a tight hug. “I’m just doing my best for everyone.”

Theo made a mock-sniff. “I guess I’m not cool enough for you guys, huh?”

“You’re cool too, Theo! Just a different kinda cool!” Lucca said.

“Yeah! You’re cool like a strong mountain!” Milena added.

Theo brushed the back of his neck shyly. “Haha, thanks, guys.”

“I’ll be back, I’m gonna start packing,” Lucio said.

He quickly walked to he and the twins’ shared room before anyone could protest.

He pulled out two large suitcases from his closet and began to look through his wardrobe for which clothes he should pack. After deciding what he should take for clothes, he looked around his room for what else he might need. He added a first aid kit, skincare products, and hand lotion into his luggage. He looked over to the bed stand where rows of neatly arranged music merch and handmade crafts stared back at him, smiling and winking in the sunlight. Lucio went over and tapped his chin in thought before taking his most favorite of the collection and putting them in a safe compartment in his suitcase.

Lucio looked around the cramped but homey room, feeling a slight pang of sadness in his chest. When he was younger he’d complained when the twins had to move in and take over the right of the room. Now he was much older and patience graced his age. He would miss when the twins would hop off their bunks and excitedly pat him awake during most mornings. He would also miss being with his father when he would come home and patiently sit in the living room and listen to Lucio’s in-progress tracks and give advice, coming from a former non-professional but experienced garage band member. Hanging out with Natalia and Theo was fun and they would often combine their friend groups and go out during the weekends and dance the night away. He’d miss the peaceful silence with his mother as they prepared breakfast together or when he helped her load vegetables into the family car to take to the marketplace. When they were simply chopping veggies and fruits in the morning, Lucio would see the sunlight playing in the plaited folds of his mother’s hair and in those quiet moments, he saw her as the most beautiful woman in the world. She had hardened with age and had grown a bit bitter over the years, but Lucio knew she was a kind-hearted person deep down and she did everything she could for her family, she had sacrificed so much for them and Lucio hoped one day he could repay even a fraction of it with his now-successful music career. His family had done so much for him it was only right he did this to help them back.

“Will you be staying for dinner tonight?” Alana asked as Lucio finally came out of his room.

Lucio shook his head, smiling sadly. “I don’t think I can, sorry, Ma.”

“I see, I understand,” she replied.

“Are you leaving now?” Fernando asked.

“Yeah,” Lucio said.

“We’re going to miss you,” Theo said.

“I know, me too,” Lucio said, grabbing Theo for a hug.

“Theo, are you crying?” Milena asked.

“N-no,” Theo said, trying to hide his face behind Lucio’s shoulder.

“There, there,” Alana said, patting her eldest son’s back.

Everyone came in for a final family hug.

“I’ll be back soon, this is a part-time deal I had established after all,” Lucio assured them.

“Stay safe, you hear?” Alana said, cupping her son’s face worriedly.

Lucio took her smaller hands into his. “Of course, Ma. You know I will.”

Alana leant down, closing her eyes and released a sigh. “Good, _meu querido._ I will hold you to that.”

Finally, she released him and Lucio stood upright, holding up his suitcases in both his hands.

Alana headed to the kitchen and quickly came back with a Tupperware container and pushed it into Lucio’s hands. “Snacks for the road, I know you’ll need them.”

“Thanks, Ma, I really appreciate it,” Lucio said, cradling the container carefully in his arms.

He waved to his family one last time before heading towards downtown. He had gotten a message from his cellphone that a driver was sent to take him to the airport and guide him to the private helicopter he would be flying in.

He hopped on the helicopter not a long time after and graciously thanked his driver by leaving him a generous tip.

“It’s incredible that I’m sending off _the_ Lucio to Gibraltar,” the pilot said excitedly.

“Oh no, thank _you_ ,” Lucio said. “You’re taking me to the watchpoint under illegal conditions, right? Lena explained it to me when I was in King’s Row. You’re really risking your life and I just want to say you’re brave for taking on this job.”

“Anything to make the world a better place,” The pilot said nonchalantly and the helicopter began to take off.

Because of advanced vehicle engineering, instead of the usual eight-nine hours it would usually take for certain airlines, it would only take three for the specialized ‘copter Lucio was taking. Nonetheless, it wasn’t unusual for the DJ to get a bit hungry during the trip and he soon cracked open the Tupperware container Alana had packed for him not too long ago. There were coconut cakes, _brigadeiros, Pão de queijo,_ and leftover _Pastel de palmito_ his mother had made a few nights ago. The pilot was really kind to have brought a cooler filled with a variety of drinks. Lucio nibbled on a bit of everything and washed it down with seltzer water.

Before he knew it, the pilot announced they were ready to land.

“Oh, one more thing before I have to leave,” The pilot said.

“Yeah?” Lucio replied.

“May I have your autograph, please?” The pilot asked shyly.

“Sure, man! You got something to write with?” Lucio said.

“Yeah, here,” The pilot said, handing Lucio a notepad and pen.

“Well, there you go! Thanks for the ride, you take care now!” Lucio said, sending the man off with a quick wave.

“Same to you, I hope you have a great rest of your day!” The pilot called before flying off.

The next few hours were quite bizarre, even to Lucio. He never would’ve thought the head of operations of the renewal of Overwatch would be a huge gorilla. But Lucio quickly became fast friends with the scientist, finding out quickly that Winston was fun to tease.

“Well, hopefully you found the tour useful, if you need anything you can find me in my office,” Winston said outside Lucio’s threshold.

“Yeah, catch ya later, alligator!” Lucio said.

Winston raised a paw before shaking his head and leaving. Lucio caught him smiling goofily as he strode down the hallway.

Lucio placed his suitcases near the front of his new bed. The room was decorated simply with all its basic necessities: two different sized shelves, a desk, a chair, and a bedside table near the left of his bed. He wasn’t exactly happy with how the room was currently aligned and made a note to himself to reorganize and redecorate everything to his tastes sometime in the future. It was a still a little while before dinner would be called, judging by the angle of the sun outside. Lucio sprawled across his bed, after discarding his skates on the floor. He wondered what he should do to pass the time. Perhaps he might run into some of the other agents present on the watchpoint. He got up, now refocused with energy. Maybe hitting the gym would be a good thing to do before dinner. He wanted to see what else was offered in it after Winston’s short introduction of it earlier.

As he exited, Lucio came face to face with the person he’d least expect to see on the watchpoint.

The architech widened her eyes slightly when she saw Lucio exit his room.

Earthen orbs met golden ones as their eyes narrowed simultaneously. In perfect unison, the two said, “What are you doing here?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lucio and Satya had underwhelming reactions when meeting Winston. Lucio just goes along with it because, why not? Satya just shrugs it off with a, "I've seen weirder things." I wrote this indulgently, so I'm sorry if it's a little overdone with the food sections. I love writing about food, it's really fun. The next chapter will be a bit short, since it's the prelude to the upcoming first mission the team will go on. Also, I uploaded this on my birthday! Happy birthday to me! I guess this can be called a birthday present to myself? I hope you enjoy this chapter! Please tell me what you think, and I hope you all have a great rest of your day! C:


	9. Intermission

The two stood in silence for a good long minute before Lucio disappeared down the hallway. Satya stood looking at the now empty hallway, feeling numb as she then brought her gaze to the white tile floor.

There was a knocking at Winston’s door and Winston hastily replied, “Come in!”

Lucio came in through the threshold, a troubled look upon his features.

“Hey, Lucio, is there something you need?” Winston asked.

“Yeah, I have a few questions actually,” Lucio replied.

“Go on,” Winston said.

“Why is…Satya Vaswani here?” Lucio said in a hushed voice.

“Well, I made an agreement with Vishkar for her to lend a hand in Overwatch,” Winston said. “Since your arrival, I’ve planned to deploy us to our first mission very soon.”

“Don’t you know the history between us?” Lucio asked.

“Yes, I read your file,” Winston said. Realization dawned upon the gorilla. “Oh…oh…”

“I can’t…I can’t work with her,” Lucio said, holding his arm in a firm grip as his eyes fell to the floor.

“I’m sorry Lucio, if we had more members I’d excuse you from the first mission but as you can see we’re short on agents at the moment,” Winston said.

Winston hopped from his tire chair and brought a hand to Lucio’s shoulder. “I’m not asking you to be friends, or even to get along, but at least be civil towards her as a fellow agent.”

Lucio lifted his head. “…I’ll try.”

Winston smiled. “Good, that’s all I ask.”

“Guess I’ll see you later,” Lucio said.

“See you soon!” Winston called as he watched Lucio leave.

The scientist scratched his head, frustrated. How could he have not seen this coming? This was going to become a predicament if the hostility between the two of them escalates, he thought. He also needed to have a little talk with Tracer as well, since she was certainly at fault for much of this problem. He also should've brushed more deeply into both Lucio and Satya’s profiles before they’d arrived on the watchpoint. They only had a few active agents in the watchpoint and their numbers were few and far between. Teamwork was crucial for their first mission to be a success and Winston tried to think of what activities he could implement to strengthen everyone’s bonds.

                                                                                                       -

Later that afternoon, Winston called for all the agents to meet up in the briefing room for what their first mission would entail. Everyone soon arrived in trickles and seated themselves in the assembly-like room. The room was darkened minus the bright projector that was set up with Winston’s presentation of the mission’s briefing. The room was set up in a way that was similar to how a movie theatre would be situated.

“Is everyone here then?” Winston called from the projector setup.

Everyone did roll call quickly and Winston took it to meaning he could begin.

“So, as you all may know, we’re planning to go on our first mission in about a week,” Winston said.

“I’d like to give a quick presentation on where we’ll be headed,” Winston explained. “We’ll be going to the former area of Route 66 in the United States.”

The title screen changed to a scenic shot taken in bird’s eye view of a dry, desert area filled with canyons.

“To keep things short, there was a dangerous group called the Deadlock Gang that took over the area for a while,” Winston said. “Years ago, their activity was stopped and the gang was dissolved with the help of local police and intervention from Overwatch.”

“But, Athena and I have found data recently that suggests otherwise from the small traces of Deadlock activity that has been popping up in the past few months, I think this is a sign that they’re planning on reviving the gang, either with the help of new recruits, old members or a combination of both.”

“So are you suggesting we go to investigate this and stop their activity like we did years ago?” Angela asked.

“Exactly,” Winston said.

“This is quite dangerous, but we’ve handled worse,” Angela said assuringly.

“There is nothing to be afraid of! We have my shield to protect us!” Reinhardt boomed heartily.

“Lucio, Satya, while you are our new recruits, we’ll guide you through the ropes for this mission so there’s no need to worry too much,” Winston reassured the both of them.

“Anyone have questions?” Winston asked.

“I do,” Satya said as she raised her hand.

“Yes?”

“Are we travelling in the large transport ships you showed me months ago?” Satya asked.

“We are,” Winston replied.

“Do you plan on splitting our current group for different tasks?” Satya asked.

“If need be, we might,” Winston said. “I’m not sure yet, we’ll have to see first.”

“Alright, thank you,” Satya said.

“Anyone else?” Winston asked.

No one else raised their hand so Winston made a gesture with his paw and said, “Well, I say our meeting is adjourned for today. You are all dismissed.”

At that, everyone began getting up from their seats and retreated towards the back door exits.

Lucio caught sight of Satya as she exited the room. With a nod, he smiled in her direction. Satya, feeling confused and flustered, nodded and went towards the opposite hall from the direction Lucio was heading.

                                                                                                        -

Dinner was an awkward affair. The table was at its quietest for the first time in months. Everyone began talking again once the food was passed out, as it was Torbjorn’s turn to cook and he whipped up a meal of fried herring, pea soup, and rice pudding for dessert. Compliments were given to the chef and Torbjorn scratched his hat as he grew pink with pride.

Lucio had made some small talk with Satya as he began digging into his food. After asking her a bit about her job and some of her interests, he went to talking with Angela and Reinhardt for the rest of the meal. Satya was relieved in all honesty, but she couldn’t help feeling a sense of unease as she ate her food in general silence. She talked a little bit with the people around her but eventually excused herself to retire to her quarters for the evening. When she finally exited the dining hall, she let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. She grasped the fabric of her shirt, seeing the material contort in angry jagged lines as she pulled it into the confines of her fist. Satya could feel her eyebrows furrow as she walked further into the halls of the barracks, the blue lighting playing patterns across the surface of her skin.

She felt her body unravel as she stood against the surface of her closed door, falling to the ground with a soft _thump._ She rested her head against the surface, letting out a soft sigh. How could simple conversation drive her nerves up the wall? It wasn’t the attitude Lucio presented to her, after all, she could sense the genuineness of his chat with her. It was probably the mere presence of Lucio that unsettled her. Never in a million years would she predict the one person she swore to never see again appear before her, just a couple rooms down the hall.

Satya finally lifted herself off the floor, holding her prosthetic with the tight grip of her flesh arm. She had planned to work out a bit at the gym after dinner but thought better of it. A part of her mind decided the freedom fighter would be there and she wasn’t sure if resolution to avoid him at all costs or pure paranoia stirred her decision to stay in her room. Instead she did some breathing and dance exercises to calm herself down and stretch her limbs in the meanwhile.

Night drew before Satya knew it, the navy blue curtain of the sky swam with silver stars and faraway planets in the distant reaches of space. Loitering clouds sailed lazily in the sky, hiding the crescent moon and stars in a veil as they passed by. Her room was lit by the small shape of the moon and then she decided to take up her bath supplies and take a shower.

Satya let her mind wander, her motor skills barely taking hand as she absently washed herself. She left the shower stalls in a cloud of steam. The hallways were dimly lit for the evening hours. She put everything away in its proper place on one of the smaller shelves opposite her bed and sat on her bed grabbing a thriller sci-fi novel she’d been meaning to get to. She’d drawn her curtains, even though she knew she was miles away from anyone else being able to peek in but the gesture still comforted her. As she was in the middle of an exciting chase scene, Satya could hear faint music flooding into the hallway. At first she decided to ignore it, hoping it’d cease as quickly as it started. Sadly, that wasn’t the case. She listened to ten minutes of it straight before throwing her book onto her bed and putting on her slippers to investigate.

She opened her door and looked down towards the right of the hallway, catching neon lights playing beneath the door of Lucio’s room. She frowned deeply as the music suddenly increased in volume. The tempo was too fast and Satya could feel the beat beneath her shoes. She closed the door and sat on her bed wondering how to solve this simple yet annoying problem. She glanced over to her bedside table where her visor sat, turned off. She grabbed it and slipped it on, turning on the sound proofing to max. She looked around her room, and finally to her door. Everything was silent. She let out a small breath. Why did she get so easily riled up over something so simple? The solution was right before her if she’d only looked in the right direction. She smiled, now feeling at peace without the boisterous music interrupting her reading. She settled against her pillows, continuing where she left off before.

Satya lost track of time again and realized she’d read for far too long. The sky was growing a bit bright at the edges and she felt her eyes pulling down on their own. She put away the book and got up to look at the sky for a moment.

_“I need to go to sleep,”_   Satya thought to herself.

She bumped against a smaller suitcase she had forgotten to unpack months ago. She bent down to open up the half-unzippered bag and her eyes widened. There in the neglected folds of the suitcase was the clothing Lucio had lent to her ages ago.

                                                                                                      -

_She still had some time before she had to leave for the job. She shouldn’t feel guilty about this but the feeling gnawed at her chest tenfold. She was done with her work for the day and turned in the prototypes she needed to the higher-ups. Satya passed some colleagues many of them stopping her for a chat, congratulating her on her new job and asking how she was doing. Each time she was stopped her heart beat faster. Each time she was asked something, she was scared they would begin interrogating her. This was ridiculous. It wasn’t unusual to leave the premises at around this time. There wasn’t anything unusual about carrying a supplies satchel on your back. Lots of people carried backpacks and the like to hold their blueprints and work tools. No one had asked what she was doing. Yet why did she feel so paranoid?_

_As the motion-sensor doors closed behind her back, Satya forced herself to not look around with the security cameras watching her every move in their wake. She walked, back straight, to the edge of the facility and closed her eyes as the stress fell from her shoulders. She was out of sight from the security cameras. While Vishkar was utmost in their security protocols, Satya thanked for this small imperfection within its system. After glancing at her surroundings several times did she bent down, and with trembling hands, pull out the set of clothes the rebel had lent her not too long ago. The trashcan’s bottom must be dirty and musty as the clothes came out dirty with specks of debris upon the material. Satya grimaced as she felt pieces of grime slide underneath her nails. She needed to clean her hands immediately after this. She stuffed the clothes hurriedly into the satchel and the zippering stirred her to her senses as it sounded unnaturally loud in the midafternoon air. Shaking her head, she got up, stringing the satchel upon her back. She was hyperaware of the clacking of her heels upon the cement floor as she forced herself through the automatic doors once more. A million thoughts raced through her head as she made her way back to her apartment. Would the camera feed be deemed suspicious if the monitors looked at it later that night? Would they find her coming back to the main building much too quickly? She didn’t feel safe until she was behind the private familiarity of her bedroom._

_Even knowing so, Satya couldn’t help but scramble to find the nearest suitcase to stuff the clothes in. Unzipping the supplies satchel and throwing the clothes in took no time at all since the lightning speeds of her fingers proved to be faster than Satya could even calculate. After throwing aside the satchel, Satya sprawled herself on her floor carpet, wondering if she was going crazy. This whole ordeal felt as if it were a Bond movie scene sped up. She closed her eyes. What a foolish thing to do. It wasn’t as if she’d meet the man again. So why bother salvaging the silly clothes in the first place? Why make such a big deal over rescuing them beneath a dirty trashcan? Deep in her heart Satya knew it’d be impossible to ever meet Lucio ever again. So why did she seem to care so much about the dirty pair of fabric?_

_Satya squeezed her eyes shut. She didn’t know why. It was all on impulse. Just like when she’d rescued the ruffian on that full moon’s night. Actions leapt before her thoughts could process what she was actually doing. Gods, what has she done?_

_Sleep was difficult to find that night as she twisted and turned in her bed. Even with her curtains closed, she saw the moon’s glow against the window. It was a full moon. She forced her mind to not let the flashbacks surface to her mind’s eye._

_She awoke the next morning, wondering how she was going to launder the dirty clothes. There was no way she was going to do it in the public laundry room within the apartment. It was too suspicious and dangerous. Yet, she was feeling antsy at having dirty clothes thrown in a suitcase. There wasn’t anything to do, she’d have to wait till she reached Watchpoint Gibraltar and hope that the shared laundry rooms were more privatized. She felt as if a vice were crawling up her arm as she carried the suitcase with her to the private driver that was tasked to take her to the airport. She willed her breathing to be even and calm. She wasn’t committing a crime, there was nothing to worry about. She sat in the back seat, folding her hands loosely upon her lap. Absolutely nothing to worry about, at all._

_-_

How wrong she was. It was in the wee hours in the morning and the room was hushed but Satya’s mind rang with questions. What was she going to do with these clothes? What ironic trick was Lady Fate playing with her for her to actually meet the said man who she borrowed these clothes from? She almost laughed. The clothes were still layered in grime and dust. She needed to wash her hands again after this. It was too long of a trip to go to the public bathrooms for this. Thankfully she had some hand sanitizer, she remembered, and immediately relaxed. Satya had absently rubbed circles into the dirty fabric before placing it slowly into its soon zippered casing. She’d been shown the laundry rooms by Winston months ago but forgot all about the task of actually cleaning these clothes. She’d have to think of some plan to launder them.

Satya stood up, her feet feeling wobbly like Jello as she eventually balanced herself. This was certainly a problem. She gave one last glance to the suitcase.

_“But there are bigger problems at hand, concerning the mission we’ll be sent on soon,”_ Satya thought to herself. Cradling her prosthetic tightly, she forced herself to bed.

Throughout the night she worried, and eventually was lulled into a deep sleep. She dreamt of dust, the sweaty heat of a desert, and a flash of red mixed with yellow and brown, too blurry for her to see what it was. Eventually the dream was soon showered with the clash of a miasma of colors, green once again dominating the group and shining brightest amongst them all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am pretty proud of this chapter, if I do say so myself! It turned out a little more longer than I planned but oh well. Updates will be more slower since my winter break has ended. Why do I always get a writing kick when it's in the wee hours of the morning? (aka 1-4 AM) I'll try my best to write this whenever I can. I'm excited to start the next chapter as there's a lot I need to plan. If you're interested in knowing I have some more ideas for OW fics, a Darkest Dungeon fic, B-Project, Tsukiuta, and a WIP for 91 Days as well. I have a lot of other fic ideas planned so I'm pretty excited for that as well. Next chapter will be about their first mission in the Route 66 area. I hope you enjoy this chapter and please tell me what you think!

**Author's Note:**

> I just always thought Lucio and Symmetra had such great dynamic between them. Their canon interactions in game are just really interesting to hear. Sort of an origins story to give more background to the both of them? I've had this fic idea for a while and I'm happy I can finally produce the first chapter for it. Also aka slow burn Lucio/Symmetra with a slice of redemption arc for Symmetra. It's pretty fun and interesting to write Lucio in a more serious light than the lighthearted person he's usually portrayed in most fics. Is there a name for the pairing? I hope you all enjoy the fic and please tell me what you think! I hope you all have a nice rest of your day! C:


End file.
